Election Watch : Who’s who of the richest, poorest candidates

Odisha Sun Times Bureau

Bhubaneswar, Apr 6 :

The Odisha Election Watch report on the background and assets of the 673 candidates in the fray for  the first phase Assembly polls in Odisha ,released on Sunday, reveals the huge gap that exists among the richest and the poorest among them.

The report, of course, is based entirely on the declarations made by the candidates in their affidavits filed with the Election Commission.

The reports states that the average assets per candidate contesting in the 2014 Odisha (Phase 1) Assembly elections is Rs.76.27 lakhs and of them 103 (15%) are ‘crorepatis’.

The party-wise analysis of average assets reveals that it is  Rs 2.57 crore in the case of BJP ( 70 candidates), Rs 1.86 crore for BJD ( 70 candidates) and Rs 1.32 crore for the Congress (70 candidates ). The average assets of the 43 AAP candidates in the first phase polls is Rs 32,79 lakh.

The top three richest candidates are Dilip Kumar Ray of BJP (Rourkela) with a total declared assets worth Rs.106.82 crores, followed by Nitesh Gangadeb ( Deogarh) of the same party with assets worth Rs.17.65 crores while Sugnana Kumari Deo (Kabisuryanagar) of BJD comes third with assets worth Rs 13.82 crore.

There are 8 candidates who have claimed to have zero assets while 104 candidates have declared assets worth less than Rs.1 Lakh.

Among the 70 BJD candidates, Priyanshu Pradhan from Chhatrapur constituency is the poorest, with assets  worth Rs.10.43 lakh and among  the Congress candidates,  it is Makaranda Muduli from Rayagada constituency who has assets worth a little over  Rs. 10,000.

Intrestingly, as many as 217 candidates (32%) contesting in the first phase polls have not declared their PAN details. Similarly 452 candidates have not declared their Income Tax returns.

Among high income candidates,  Income Dilip Kumar Ray of the BJP has the highest declared annual income of Rs.1.58 crores, followed by  Chakradhara Paik, an independent candidate from Mohana, with a total  annual income of Rs.1.11 crores.

Anang Uday Singhdeo of the BJD comes third in the list with an income of Rs.50.50 lakhs for the financial year 2013-14.

In contrast, the poorest candidate in the first phase of the poll race is CPI(ML)(Liberation) candidate in Mohana  Purna Chandra Bhuyan, whose total declared assets is only Rs 467.

The top ten poorest candidates have said  the total assets owned by them rangs from less than Rs 500 to a maximum of Rs 3000.

Here are the lists of the top ten of the richest and poorest candidates, which is based on the declarations made by them in their affidavits about the total worth of their movable and immovable assets .

RICHEST TOP TEN

1 Dilip Kumar Ray, BJP ( Rourkela)- Rs 106 Crore+

2 Nitesh Gangadeb , BJP (Deogarh– Rs  17 Crore+

3 Sugnana Kumari Deo, BJD ( Kabisuryanagar) – Rs 13 Crore+

4 Naveen Patnaik, BJD (Hinjili)  -Rs 12 Crore+

5 Anang Uday Singhdeo, BJD (Bolangir) –Rs 11 Crore+

6 Nandini Devi, BJD (Sanakhemundi ) – Rs  11 Crore+

7 Gobinda Naik, BSP( Chhendipada ) – Rs  10 Crore+

8 Naba Kisore Das, Congress (Jharsuguda )- Rs 10 Crore+

9 Kishore Chandra Patel, Congress ( Brajarajnagar)- Rs  9 Crore+

10 Banamali Sethi , Congress (Chhatrapur ) Rs 7 Crore+

POOREST TOP TEN

( total movable and immovable assets)

1. Purna Chandra Bhuyan (Mohana )CPI(ML)(L) – Rs 467

2. Sukadeb Behera (Chhendipada) Independent -Rs 500

3. Sandip Kumar Meher  ( Kantamal) Odisha Jan Morcha-  Rs 500

4. Udhaba Sahu (Narla) CPI(ML)(L) – Rs 1,380

5. Kanhei Jani  (Laxmipur) CPI(ML)Red Star-  Rs 1,700

6. Kumar Nanda (Bijepur)  RPI(D)- Rs  2,000

7. Jayakrushna Podh ( Rengali) Kalinga Sena – Rs 2,200

8. Sanjaya Kumar Pradhan (G. Udayagiri) –Independent I- Rs 2,622

9. Jalandhar Nayak ( Chitrakonda ) Independent – Rs 2,665

10. Purna Chandra Paik ( Bijepur)  Ambedkarite Party – Rs 3000