Chief Minister Raman Singh is one of the top three richest candidates in the first phase
As 18 seats in Chhattisgarh go to polls on Monday, an analysis of data collated by research body ADR or Association of Democratic Reforms shows that most number of rich candidates are from arch-rivals BJP and Congress.
Both BJP and Congress are fighting on all the 18 seats, and 72 per cent of their candidates or 13 each from both the parties have assets of over Rs 1 crore.
The richest candidate is Devwrat Singh of Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) who is fighting from the Khairagarh seat. Mr Singh has assets of over Rs 119.55 crore.
Chief Minister Raman Singh is among the top three richest candidate with total assets of over 10.7 crore. He is fighting the elections from the Rajnandgaon constituency and is being challenged by Congress' Karuna Shukla, niece of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
| Party | Total number of candidates analyzed | No of Rich Candidates |
|---|
| BJP | 18 | 13 |
| Cong | 18 | 13 |
| JCC | 10 | 4 |
| SHS | 8 | 2 |
| BSP | 9 | 2 |
| Ambedkarite Party of India | 10 | 1 |
| Independent | 64 | 7 |
| Others | 50 | 0 |
| Total | 187 | 42 |
Among other parties, four out of 10 candidates from JCC are crorepatis while two out of nine candidates from BSP have reported assets of over Rs 1 crore.
Out of the 187 candidates fighting the first phase of the poll, 22 per cent or 42 candidates are crorepatis.
Chhattisgarh has a total of 90 assembly seats and in the first phase polling will be held for 18 seats on Monday. Of the seats going polls, 12 are in Bastar and six in Rajnandgaon district.
Of the seats, 12 are reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) while one for Scheduled Caste (SC) category.
Elections for the remaining 72 seats will will be held on November 20. Votes will be counted on December 11.