MCD polls: BJP has maximum millionaire candidates, claims ADR report

The BJP has the highest number of millionaire candidates in the fray for the December 4 Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls, followed by the AAP and the Congress, according to a report by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Of the top three richest candidates, two from the BJP and one from the AAP.

Three candidates from the AAP have the highest amount of liabilities while two independent candidates have declared zero assets. Another independent candidate, a Congress nominee and a BSP candidate have the lowest assets, the report said.

It said 162 (65 per cent) out of the 249 candidates analysed from the BJP, 148 (60 per cent) out of 248 from the AAP and 107 (44 per cent) out of 245 candidates analysed from the Congress have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

The report said the average assets per candidate contesting the elections this time is Rs 2.27 crore. In the 2017 polls to the civic body, the average assets per candidate for 2,315 candidates was Rs 1.61 crore.

Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 249 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 4.04 crore, 248 AAP candidates analysed is Rs 3.74 crore and 245 Congress candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.98 crore, it said.

BJP's Ram Dev Sharma, who is contesting from the 79-Ballimaran ward, has declared total assets worth over Rs 66 crore. Nandini Sharma, who is representing the party from 149-Malviya Nagar ward, has declared assets over Rs 49.84 crore, while Jitender Bansala, AAP nominee from 248-Karawal Nagar, has showed assets worth over Rs 48.27 crore in their affidavits.

According to the report, 643 (48 per cent) of the candidates have declared liabilities.

The AAP's candidates from 53-Rohini-E, 98-Subhash Nagar, 146-Amar Colony -- Kuldip Mittal, Manju Setia and Jitender Kumar -- have the highest liabilities among all the candidates at over 15.43 crore, 10.94 crore and 10.07 crore, respectively.

Out of 1,336 candidates, whose affidavits were analysed by the ADR, 556 are millionaires.

Among the top 10 richest candidates, there are no Congress nominees, while there are five BJP candidates, three AAP candidates and two independents.

This year, 1,349 candidates are contesting the MCD elections, which will be held on December 4.

Out of these, 1,336 candidates' self-sworn affidavits were analysed by the ADR and Delhi Election Watch. The ADR was not able to analyse 13 candidates as their affidavits were either badly scanned or complete details were not uploaded on the Delhi State Election Commission website.