LS polls: 15 'crorepati' candidates in fray for five seats in Assam

Of the 35 candidates in the fray for the five Lok Sabha constituencies in Assam going to the polls on April 19, fifteen are 'crorepati' with the richest being independent woman candidate Diluwara Begum Chowdhury from the Kaziranga seat.

The five Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls on April 19 are Jorhat, Kaziranga, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur.

Five BJP candidates, three of Congress, two of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), one each of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) and Bharatiya Gana Parishad (BGP) and three independents have assets over Rs one crore, according to the affidavits filed by candidates.

The average assets of AAP candidates are the highest at Rs six crore, followed by the BJP candidates at over Rs four crore, the Congress at Rs three crore, the AITC and the BGP at Rs one crore each.

Independent candidate Diluwara Begum Chowdhury who owns fuel stations has total assets of over Rs 17.58 crore, comprising Rs 4.65 crore as movable and Rs 12.92 crore as immovable assets.

She is followed by AAP's Dibrugarh candidate Manoj Dhanowar with assets worth over Rs 9.32 crore, of which Rs 2.85 crore as movable and Rs 6.46 crore as immovable assets.

The AAP Sonitpur candidate Rishiraj Kaundinya is in eighth place with total assets worth Rs 2.91 crore, comprising Rs 1.34 as movable and Rs 1.56 crore as immovable assets.

The richest BJP candidate is Sonitpur nominee and MLA Ranjit Dutta with total assets worth Rs 8.97 crore, of which Rs 5.52 crore is movable and Rs 3.45 crore immovable assets.

Union Minister for Shipping and Waterways and BJP candidate for Dibrugarh Lok Sabha seat Sarbananada Sonowal is the second richest BJP candidate with total assets worth over Rs 4.75 crore, including Rs 1.64 crore as movable and Rs 3.11 crore as immovable assets.

He is closely followed by party's Jorhat sitting MP Topon Gogoi with total assets worth Rs 3.22 crore, with Rs 3 crore as movable and Rs 22.50 lakh in immovable assets.

BJP's Lakhimpur sitting MP Pradan Baruah is in the ninth place with Rs 2.42 crore total assets of which Rs 1.05 crore is movable and Rs 1.36 crore immovable while his Rajya Sabha colleague Kamakhya Prasad Tasa is at 12th position with assets worth Rs two crore, with Rs 1.45 crore as movable assets and Rs 55 lakh as immovable assets.

The richest Congress candidate is Uday Shankar Hazarika from Lakhimpur Lok Sabha constituency with Rs 6.82 crore, comprising Rs 3.39 crore as movable and Rs 3.42 crore as immovable assets.

He is closely followed by the party's Jorhat Lok Sabha candidate Gaurav Gogoi with net assets worth Rs 4.90 crore, with Rs 2.65 crore as movable and Rs 2.25 crore as immovable assets. Congress contestant from Sonitpur Lok Sabha constituency Premlal Ganju also figures in the list with Rs 1.10 crore, comprising Rs 26.62 lakh as movable and Rs 83.50 lakh as immovable assets.

Independent candidates Pradip Bhandari from Sonitpur and Abdul Hoque from Kaziranga have assets over Rs 2 crore while Trinamool Congress candidate Ghana Kanta Chutia and Bharatiya Gana Parishad's Sailen Chandra Malakar from Kaziranga have assets worth over Rs one crore.

The assets of other prominent candidates in the fray are Congress candidate Roselina Tirkey from Kaziranga with Rs 44 lakh of assets and opposition-supported candidate Lurinjyoti Gogoi from Dibrugarh with Rs 34 lakh.

The candidates having less than Rs one lakh assets are two Kaziranga Lok Sabha constituency contestants - Salim Ahmed of Asom Jana Morcha with Rs 85,000 and Saleh Ahmed Mazumdar of Republican Party of India (Athawale) with Rs 50,000.

The candidate with the least declared asset is SUCI(C)'s Lakhimpur candidate Pallab Pegu with Rs 38,169.