According to poll reforms advocacy group, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), among the names of candidates announced for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly polls, the richest candidate is Amit Agarwal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (Mathura Cantonment) with assets worth over Rs 148 crore.
Agarwal is followed by SK Sharma of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) (Mathura) with Rs 112 crore, and Rahul Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) (Sikandrabad) with just over Rs 100 crore, news agency PTI reported..
The average of assets among major parties as analysed by ADR is:
Rs 13.23 crore for 28 SP candidates
Rs 12.01 crore for 57 BJP candidates
Rs 8.32 crores for 29 Rastriya Lok Dal candidates
Rs 7.71 crore for 56 BSP candidates
Rs 3.08 crore for 58 Indian National Congress candidates
Rs 1.23 crore for 52 Aam Aadmi Party candidates.
Meanwhile, two of the nominees have declared zero assets. Of the financially bottom-three candidates, excluding those with zero assets, two have declared having around Rs 1,000, while one has Rs 10,000, ADR stated.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the first phase of the polls is Rs 3.72 crore, it said in a report in which self-sworn affidavits of the nominees were analysed.
Voting in 58 Assembly constituencies across 11 districts of western UP with over 600 candidates, including Independents, is scheduled to begin from 10 February.
The two candidates with zero assets declared are Bahujan Mukti Party's Kailash Kumar, who has filed nomination from Atrauli in Aligarh, and Rashtra Nirman Party's Km Priti, who will be contesting from the Meerapur seat in Muzaffarnagar, ADR noted.
Of all candidates, 261 (or 42 percent) have declared liabilities in their affidavits, the report further added.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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