BJP tops list of rich candidates in first phase of Gujarat polls

The machinery of elections is always driven by the amount of money involved in it and Gujarat Assembly elections is no different. In Gujarat, all the parties have given tickets to wealthy individuals and this has led to the number of ‘crorepati’ candidates increasing in the 2022 Gujarat Assembly compared to the 2017 elections.

The Association for Democratic Reforms data shows that the majority of the wealthy belong to the BJP. In BJP 89 per cent have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, 73 per cent of INC’s candidates fall under the same list and 33 per cent from AAP are crorepatis.

To elaboate in numbers, BJP has 79 out of its 89 candidates pitched in Phase I in the crorepati list, INC has 65 out of 89 candidates who are crorepatis and AAP has 33 out of 88 candidates who have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

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The richest candidate in the upcoming Gujarat polls is BJP's Rameshbhai Virjibhai Tilala with assets worth Rs 175.78 crore. He is the candidate from the Rajkot South constituency. Tilala is followed by Congress’s Indranil Rajguru fighting from the Rajkot East constituency with assets worth more than 162 crore. However, Rajguru has also shown the highest liability of Rs 76 crore. The third richest is again a BJP candidate, Jawahar Chavda from Manavadar seat with assets worth Rs 130 crore.

According to the ADR report, 27 per cent, that is 211 of the 788 candidates are crorepatis in the Phase I of the election that is to happen on December 1, 2022. In 2017 Gujarat Assembly Elections Phase I, out of 923 candidates, 198 were crorepatis limiting the figure to 21 per cent.

Among the 211 candidates, Rivaba Jadeja, the wife of cricketer Ravindra Jadeja who is contesting from Jamnagar North seat as a BJP candidate, has declared the combined income of Rs 18 crore for 2021-22 for herself, her spouse and dependent. Her own income stood at Rs 6 lakh, her affidavit showed. She has declared assets worth Rs 97 crore, it said.

Of the total candidates in fray, 73 have declared assets worth above Rs 5 crore, 77 others between Rs 2 crore and Rs 5 crore, 125 candidates between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 2 crore, 170 between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 50 lakh, and 343 with less than Rs 10 lakh, the ADR said in the report.

Party-wise, average assets is Rs 13.40 crore for the BJP, Rs 8.38 crore for the Congress, and Rs 1.99 crore for the AAP. The 14 candidates of the Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP) have declared average assets worth Rs 23.39 lakh. In the first phase of elections in the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections, a total of 198 or 21 per cent of 923 candidates were "crorepatis", the report said.

In ADR’s report, the average of assets per candidate contesting in the Phase I of Gujarat Assembly Elections 2022 is Rs 2.88 crore. In the previous Assembly Elections’ Phase 1 data, the average assets per candidate for 923 candidates was Rs 2.16 crore.

Among the candidates with lowest assets is Rakesh Gamit, a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate from Vyara which is a Scheduled Tribe (ST) reserved seat. He has declared assets worth Rs 1,000, while Jayaben Boricha from Bhavnagar West has declared assets worth Rs 3,000, and Samir Shaikh from Surat East Rs 6,500 assets, it said.

Elections for 182 seats of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly will be held in two phases - on December 1 for 89 seats and December 5 for 93 seats, while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 8.

(With Agency inputs)