RJD MLA Anant Kumar Singh is the wealthiest candidate in phase one of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. Singh, who was the third-richest candidate in the last election, saw about a 144% jump in his assets in the last five years.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Singh’s assets spiked to nearly Rs 68 crore this year, a Rs 40 crore addition, as compared to 2015, when it was around Rs 28 crore. Interestingly, he was an independent candidate in the last election and won the Mokama seat from jail. He also has the highest number of criminal cases against him.
Out of his total assets, Rs 50 crore is immovable assets (agricultural, non-agricultural land, and commercial, residential buildings) while the rest of Rs 18 crore is movable assets.
On Singh’s heels is Congress’s Gajanand Shahi from Barbigha, with a total asset of Rs 61 crore of which Rs 60 crore is immovable assets (residential buildings) while the remaining Rs 97 lakh is movable assets.
Ranking third on the richest list candidate is JD(U)’s Manorma Devi. She is representing Atri and her total asset amounts to Rs 50 crore, with Rs 45 crore as immovable assets (agricultural, non-agricultural land and commercial, residential building) and Rs 5 crore as movable assets.
Manorma Devi is followed by an independent candidate, Rajendra Kumar Verma, contesting from Wazirganj has total assets worth Rs 50 crore of which Rs 2 lakh is registered as movable assets while the rest falls under immovable assets.
In contrast, Rinku Kumar of Log Jan Party - Secular, contesting from Gaya Town has registered her total assets to be around Rs 2,700 which is entirely movable assets.
Other candidates with low assets include Akhil Hind Forward Bloc’s Shailesh Rahi from Kutumba with total assets valued at Rs 9,000; independent candidate Lal Dhari Singh contesting from Kargahar whose assets are worth Rs 10,000.
Among the 1,064 candidates contesting in Bihar elections, 375 (35%) are crorepati candidates.
A look at the party-wise data shows that RJD has the highest percentage of rich candidates with 39 out of 41 (95%) of them having assets worth more than Rs 1 crore. While JDU follows with 31 out of 35 (89%) candidates having assets amounting to more than Rs 1 crore.
Overall, the average assets of Bihar assembly election candidates in phase 1 is around Rs 1.99 crore.