Pema Khandu is richest candidate in Arunachal Pradesh
It is significant that 67 candidates which is 36 per cent of total contestants possesses assets worth over Rs 5 crore.
Guwahati: With assets worth over Rs 163 crore, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu is among the richest chief ministers of the country. He has also emerged as the richest among 184 candidates contesting in the 60-member Assembly elections.
The affidavits submitted by the contesting candidates has revealed that 131 candidates, which is 71 per cent of total contestants, are crorepatis. The average assets of the candidates were found to be around Rs 9.86 crore.
Mr Khandu, who is contesting from Mukto Assembly constituency, possess movable assets worth Rs 1,43,87,82,786 and immovable assets of Rs 19,62,75,356. He is followed by Lombo Tayeng of Congress (East Siang) with assets worth over Rs 148 crores and BJP’s Tsering Tashi (Tawang) with over Rs 109 crores. Mr Khandu was declared winner uncontested twice in 2011 and 2014. However, it was for the first time that Mr Khandu is going to face the polling.
It is significant that 67 candidates which is 36 per cent of total contestants possesses assets worth over Rs 5 crore.
The ruling BJP leads the tally of crorepati candidates with 90 per cent or 67 of the 60 contesting candidates possessing assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. The Congress has fielded 46 candidates, of which 30 (65%) are crorepatis.
On the educational qualification front, the ADR found that 106 (58 per cent) had declared to be graduates or above while 68 (37per cent) are between class V and XII.
Of the 184 candidates, 71 per cent are aged between 41 to 60 years while 19 per cent are between 25 to 40 years. Only eleven (6 per cent) are women candidates, which was 3 per cent in 2014. Among the contesting candidates, 14 per cent have declared their serious criminal charges.
The elections in the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh are extravagant affairs where ability of the candidate to spend, matters the most. Even politicians in the fray admit that money certainly plays a role in elections in most of Indian states but little elese matters in Arunahcal Pradesh.