Lok Sabha polls: 15 'crorepati' candidates in third phase in Assam

Altogether 15 candidates out of the 47 in the fray for the four Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam going to the polls on May 7 are 'crorepatis', with the richest being AIUDF chief Badruddin Ajmal contesting from the Dhubri seat.

The 'crorepati' candidates include two each from Congress and AGP, one each from BJP, AIUDF, Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF), United People's Party, Liberal (UPPL), Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Ekam Sanatn Bharat along with four independents, according to the affidavits filed by the contestants.

Independent candidate Triptina Rabha, contesting from Kokrajhar (ST) constituency has the lowest assets with Rs 25,521 as movable assets.

There are two women in the crorepati list and they are BJP's Bijuli Kalita Medhi and Congress's Mira Borthakur Goswami, both contesting from Guwahati constituency.

All the four candidates of the ruling NDA are crorepatis. Barpeta and Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency have five crorepati candidates each, Dhubri three and Kokrajhar (ST) two. The crorepati candidates comprise 32 per cent of the total contesting candidates.

Ajmal, contesting from Dhubri to retain the seat for the fourth consecutive term, is the richest among all the candidates in the fray with assets worth Rs 155 crore, comprising Rs 28.89 crore of movable and Rs 126.17 crore of immovable assets.

He is followed by independent candidate Dulu Ahmed from Barpeta constituency with assets worth Rs 63 crore including Rs 6.16 crore of movable and Rs 57.41 crore of immovable assets.

Congress MLA and former minister Rakibul Hussain is third on the list with assets worth Rs 25 crore, including Rs 2.49 crore of movable and Rs 22.80 crore of immovable assets.

Guwahati's Congress candidate Mira Borthakur Goswami has assets worth Rs 2.37 crore with Rs 27.44 lakh as movable and Rs 2.10 crore as immovable assets while her BJP rival Bijuli Kalita Medhi is worth Rs 1.61 crore, including Rs 31.89 lakh as movable and Rs 1.30 crore as immovable assets.

BJP's alliance partner candidate Phani Bhushan Choudhury, contesting from Barpeta has assets worth Rs 3 crore, comprising Rs 79.56 lakh as movable and Rs 2.48 crore as immovable while his party colleague Zaved Islam, contesting from Dhubri has assets worth Rs 1.57 crore with Rs 97.22 lakh as movable and Rs 60.15 lakh as immovable assets.

Another NDA partner UPPL's candidate Joyanta Basumatary, contesting from the Kokrajhar (ST) constituency, has assets worth Rs 2.28 crore, comprising Rs 27.44 lakh as movable and Rs 2.10 crore as immovable.

BPF's Kampa Borgoyary, also contesting from Kokrajhar (ST), has assets worth over Rs 24 crore with Rs 18.94 crore as movable and Rs 5.91 crore as immovable.

CPI(M)'s Manoranja Talukdar, contesting from Barpeta, has assets worth Rs 1.56 crore, including Rs 76.57 lakh as movable and Rs 80 lakh as immovable.

Trinamool Congress's Abul Kalam Azad has total assets worth Rs 1.31 crore, comprising Rs 80.60 lakh in movable and Rs 50.90 lakh as immovable assets while Ekam Sanatan Bharat's Amitabh Sarma, contesting from Guwahati, has assets worth Rs 13.88 crore with the entire as movable assets.

Among the independents, Jagannath Roy of Barpeta has assets worth Rs 2,53 crore, Colonel Gokul Chandra Singha and Kazi Nekib Ahmed, both from Guwahati, have assets to the tune of Rs 1.79 crore and Rs 1.50 crore respectively.

The candidates having the highest liabilities are independent candidate Dulu Ahmed with Rs 11.86 crore, BPF's Kampa Borgoyary with Rs 7.61 crore and Congress's Rakibul Hussain with Rs 4.36 crore.

Out of the total 143 contestants in the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam, there are 49 crorepati candidates.