More crorepatis in Gujarat polls this year; richest is BJP candidate: ADR report

The role of money power in Indian elections is getting more “evident” it seems, as the number of crorepati candidates in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election have gone up, with a large chunk of them belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to a report virtually released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday (November 24), in phase 1 of the elections, 27 per cent of the 788 candidates are crorepatis, while in the 2017 elections, this figure was 21 per cent in the first phase.

While 89 per cent of the BJP candidates (79 out of the 89 candidates) contesting the phase-1 of the Gujarat polls this year are crorepatis with an average asset size of ₹13.4 crore, 73 per cent of Congress candidates and 33 per cent of the AAP candidates have declared assets valued more than ₹1crore. The average assets of Congress candidates are also high at around ₹8.38 crore.

The richest candidate in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election is Ramesh Tilala, the BJP candidate from the Rajkot South constituency, who has assets worth ₹175.78 crores. The second richest candidate in this phase 1 is a Congressman – Indranil Rajguru, who is contesting from Rajkot East constituency. He has declared his assets as worth ₹162 crore but he has also shown the highest liability of ₹76 crore.

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The third richest is Jawahar Chavda, the BJP candidate from the Manavadar seat with assets totalling upto ₹130 crore.

Major General (retd) Anil Varma, head of ADR observed that the role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. The Aam Aadmi Party candidates too figure in the crorepati list with average assets worth ₹1.99 crore.

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The BSP candidate from the Vyara seat in the Tapi district, Rakesh Gamit, cannot seem to hold a candle to these crorepatis as he declared only ₹1,000 as his assets. He has the distinction of being the candidate with the lowest declared assets in this phase 1 of the 2022 Gujarat polls.

Education qualifications and representation of women in the elections is clearly not a priority, it seems. In phase-1 of this polls, only 23 per cent are graduates and above. As many as 37 candidates are illiterate, said the ADR report. Of the total candidates, only 9 per cent are women. While only 9 per cent of BJP candidates are women, Congress and AAP fare worse with the representation dropping to just 7 per cent.