Karnail Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee from north Delhi’s Shakur Basti seat with ₹259 crore assets, is the richest of the 699 candidates fighting the February 5 Assembly election, according to a report released on Monday by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The report also stated that five candidates have assets of over ₹100 crore, and among the 10 wealthiest candidates, most belong to the BJP (5), followed by the Aam Aadmi Party (3) and the Congress (2).
On the other hand, 222 (31.76%) candidates reported assets less than ₹10 lakh. The report by the poll rights body also said that three candidates fighting as Independents have declared zero assets.
The analysis of candidates’ affidavits revealed that Congress’s Dharampal Lakra, the wealthiest candidate in the 2020 election (then with AAP), dropped to the ninth place on the richest candidates list.
It also found out that the combined assets of all the candidates totalled 3,952 crore, with an average ₹5.65 crore per candidate, up from ₹4.34 crore in 2020.
‘Recurring pattern’
It added that among the three major parties, the ruling AAP has the highest number of candidates (29) with serious criminal cases (offences such as murder, kidnapping, assault, as well as non-bailable, cognisable, and rape-related crimes), followed by Congress (13), and BJP (9).
“The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 19% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties have given tickets to 12%-63% candidates with declared criminal cases,” read ADR’s report.
According to the analysis by the poll rights body, most of the candidates (235) are in the 41-50 age group, compared to 199 in 2020. However, the number of candidates aged between 25 and 30 reduced from 57 in 2020 to 46 this time.
Published – January 28, 2025 01:59 am IST