Crorepati candidates galore in poll-bound Assam

Independent Jyoti Subba worth Rs 288 crore, rich candidates finding favor with major parties

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, March 31: Twenty candidates in fray in the first phase of Assam assembly elections have assets of Rs 5 crore or above, with Independent candidate Jyoti Subba contesting from Tezpur being the richest with property worth Rs 288 crore.

AGP candidate from Dibrugarh ren Sonowal has total assets worth Rs 33 crore, while Congress' Rahul Roy, fighting from Algapur, has property worth Rs 25 crore, the Association of Democratic Reforms which alyzed the affidavits of the candidates revealed.

Jyoti Subba, wife of former MP Mani Kumar Subba, has also declared liabilities of Rs 121 crore in her affidavit.

Of the 539 candidates, 112 are crorepatis.

Two candidates - CPI(ML)'s Jiten Tanti (Teok) and Independent Diganta Phukan (Mariani) - have declared zero assets in their affidavits.  SUCI(C) candidate from Patharkandi Debangshu th and Jan Congress Party candidate from Duliajan Anjali Sepati have shown assets of only Rs 2,000.

Altogether 36 (55%) out of 65 candidates fielded by the Congress, 23 (43%) out of 54 candidates from BJP, 7 (64%) out of 11 candidates from Asom Ga Parishad, 2 (22%) out of 9 candidates fielded by NCP, 2 (67%) out of 3 candidates of Bodoland Peoples Front and 26 (9%) out of 280 Independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The average of assets per candidate contesting the first phase of the elections is Rs 1.47 crore.

A total of 68 candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Three candidates have declared total annual income of more than Rs 50 lakh, with Congress' Rahul Roy leading the lot with an annual income of Rs 1.12 crore. He is followed by Independent Benudhar th (Tezpur) with an income of Rs 1 crore and ren Sonowal with an income of Rs 74 lakh. As many as 255 candidates have not declared their income tax details, of which 19 have assets worth more than Rs 50 lakh.  Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and former Union minister Pawan Singh Ghatowar have shown assets of Rs 5 crore each.

BJP's chief ministerial candidate Sarbanda Sonowal has declared assets of Rs 1 crore.