Bhubaneswar: Sitting MP and BJP’s nominee for Balangir seat, Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo is the richest candidate in fray for second phase of election to be held in the State on May 20.
Altogether 13 candidates out of the 40 in the fray for the five Lok Sabha constituencies are crorepatis. Among them, Shrimati Singh Deo is the richest candidate in fray with a total asset of Rs 67.30 crore, as per a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Odisha Election Watch.
Shrimati Singh Deo was followed by the BJD’s nominee for Sundargarh LS seat, Dilip Tirkey with Rs 12.26 crore while former Union Minister and senior BJP MP Jual Oram is at third position with a total asset of Rs 8.63 crore. Shri Oram is contesting from Sundargarh MP segment.
Three candidates with the lowest assets are National Apni Party’s Devika Sika (Rs 10,000) contesting from Bargarh LS seat, independent candidate Balaram Sa (Rs 30,000) from Bolangir and SUCI’s Justin Lugun (Rs 33,000) from Sundargarh, the report said.
The average assets per candidate contesting the second phase of the LS elections are Rs 3.05 crore. Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for five BJP candidates analysed is Rs 16.27 crore, followed by five BJD candidates with average assets worth Rs 4.58 crore, five Congress candidates with Rs 2.17 crore, it said.
As many as 12 (30 percent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, of them 8 candidates are facing serious criminal cases. Similarly, 19 (47 per cent) have declared their educational qualifications to be between classes five and 12, while 21 (52 per cent) candidates have declared as being graduates or above, it said.
The report further said that 10 (25 percent) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 23 (57 percent) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 7(17 percent) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 70 years.
Elections to 21 Lok Sabha and 147 assembly constituencies will be held in the State in four phases from May 13 to June 1 while the results will be declared on June 4.
Four Lok Sabha constituencies of Aska, Bargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal and Sundergarh and 35 assembly constituencies coming under these constituencies will go for poll in the second phase.