397 crorepati candidates in fray for Gujarat elections

Ahmedabad, December 9 : As many as 397 crorepati candidates are in the fray for the Gujarat assembly elections, an analysis of their election affidavits done by two NGOs has found.Of the total 1,828 candidates trying their luck in the two-phased Assembly polls, 1,098 nominees have passed class 12 or below. Also, there are only 118 women candidates in the fray, according to the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Gujarat Election Watch (GEW).While 198 out of the total 977 candidates of the first phase have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, 199 nominees out of the total 851 of second phase have emerged as ‘crorepati’ as per the analysis of their affidavits conducted by the NGOs.As per the study, 131 of these 397 ‘crorepati’ candidates have declared assets worth over Rs 5 crore, while 124 others have shown movable and immovable assets in the range of Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.While the ruling BJP has given tickets to 142 ‘crorepati’ candidates, the opposition Congress has fielded 127 such nominees. The NCP has given tickets to 17 crorepati candidates, the AAP has fielded 13 such candidates and the BSP five.The report said 56 independent candidates also fell under this category. The remaining ‘crorepati’ candidates belong to lesser known parties or outfits.Congress candidate for Daskroi seat Pankaj Patel has emerged as the wealthiest candidate with declared assets worth Rs 231.93 crore, it said.He is followed by another Congress nominee Indranil Rajyaguru of Rajkot-West seat who has declared assets worth Rs 141.22 crore.Rajyaguru is followed by BJP candidate for Botad seat Saurabh Patel. Patel, who is former Gujarat finance minister, has declared assets worth Rs 123.78 crore, the report said.