Gujarat Phase-I election: 211 'crorepati' in fray, 79 candidates from BJP
1 min read 25 Nov 2022, 09:43 AM ISTThe BJP, which is contesting all 89 seats in Phase-I, has 79 candidates or 89% of its nominees with assets above ₹1 crore
PremiumLess than a week is left for the Gujarat Assembly election, which is set to be held in two phases- on 1 December and on 5 December.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report, in the first phase of the 788 candidates, 211 are "crorepatis", with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounting for 79 such nominees.
That means, 27% of the total number of candidates in the fray have assets worth more than ₹1 crore. The BJP, which is contesting all 89 seats in Phase-I, has 79 candidates or 89% of its nominees with assets above ₹one crore, followed by the opposition Congress with 65 candidates at 73% and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) with 33 candidates at 38%.
As per the ADR report, Ramesh Tiala is the richest one with a total declared assets of ₹175 crore. Tiala is contesting from the Rajkot South Assembly constituency as a BJP candidate.
Indranil Rajguru, a Congress candidate from the Rajkot East seat, follows Tilala with ₹162 crore assets. Jawahar Chavda, a BJP candidate from the Manavadar seat, has assets worth ₹130 crore.
Whereas an independent candidate named Bhupendra Patoliya from the Rajkot West Assembly seat has declared zero assets in his affidavit.
Cricketer Ravindra Jadeja's wife Rivaba Jadeja has declared a combined income of ₹18 crore for 2021-22 for herself, her spouse, and her dependent. Rivaba is contesting from the Jamnagar North seat as a BJP candidate.
Among the other candidates, 73 have declared assets worth above ₹5 crore, 77 others between ₹2 crore and ₹5 crore, 125 candidates between ₹50 lakh and ₹2 crore, 170 between ₹10 lakh and ₹50 lakh, and 343 with less than ₹10 lakh, according to ADR's data.
Party-wise, the average assets are ₹13.40 crore for the BJP, ₹8.38 crore for the Congress, and ₹1.99 crore for the AAP.
In the first phase of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, a total of 198 or 21% of 923 candidates were "crorepatis", the report said.
Further sharing the data on the education qualifications of the candidates, the ADR report mentioned that 62% of the candidates have studied between Class 5 and Class 12; 185 are graduates, and 21 are diploma holders.
As many as 57 candidates are literate, while 37 others are illiterate.
