412 Crorepatis in fray for 2024 Assembly polls in Odisha; know the richest, poorest candidates

Priya Ranjan Swain Published On : May 27, 2024 at 5:44 PM

Bhubaneswar: Dilip Kumar Ray, the BJP nominee for Rourkela seat in Sundargarh district, is the richest candidate in fray for the 2024 Assembly polls in Odisha, said the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) in its reports today.

The ADR released its report after analyzing the poll affidavits of 1,283 candidates of the total 1,285 in fray for 147 Assembly seats in the state.

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With assets worth over Rs 313 crore, Ray is the richest candidate in fray for this year’s Assembly polls in Odisha. The BJP nominee has immovable assets worth over Rs 53 crore and movable assets worth over Rs 260 crore, said the ADR report.

Sanatan Mahakud, the BJD candidate for Champua Assembly seat in Keonjhar, is the second richest MLA candidate in the state with assets worth over Rs 227 crore. Mahakud owns immovable assets worth over Rs 40 crore and movable assets worth over Rs 186 crore, added the report.

BJD candidate for Basta Assembly seat in Balasore, Subasini Jena, is the third richest nominee with assets worth over 135 crore. Jena owns immovable assets worth over Rs 87 crore and movable assets worth over Rs 47 crore.

As per the ADR report, 412 candidates (32 per cent) of the total 1,285 are Crorepatis. In 2019 Assembly elections in Odisha, 304 candidates of the total 1,121 were Crorepatis, said the report.

In this year’s Assembly elections, altogether 130 candidates have assets worth Rs 5 crore or above while 130 nominees have assets in between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore.

A total of 304 candidates own assets in between Rs 50 lakhs and Rs 2 crore.

The ruling BJD has the highest number of 128 Crorepati candidates, followed by BJP with 96 such nominees. The Congress party has given tickets to 88 Crorepati candidates while 11 of the 41 candidates fielded by the AAP have assets worth over Rs 1 crore, revealed the ADR report.

At least five candidates, three independent nominees and one each from BSP and Ambedkarite Party of India, have ‘zero’ assets.

These candidates are: Ramesh Kumar Mahanand (Bhawanipatna), Purna Chandra Majhi (Rayagada), Sohan Sipka (Kantabanji), Sanjay Kumar Das (Dhamnagar) and Gopal Krushna Mohanty (Korei).

Benudhar Mohapatra, the independent nominee for Udala seat, has assets worth just Rs 645.

Similarly, Ramesh Jani, the Republican Party of India (A) candidate for Lakshmipur seat, owns assets worth Rs 1,000 only. Samruddha Odisha nominee for Baramaba seat, Kailash Chandra Nayak, has also assets worth Rs 1,000, says the ADR report.