Lok Sabha elections 2024: 15 ‘crorepati’ candidates, most from BJP, in the fray for 5 seats in Assam

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As many as 15 of the 35 candidates in the fray for the five parliamentary constituencies in Assam going to polls in the first phase on Friday, April 19, have assets worth more than ₹1 crore, according to their election affidavits.

Jorhat, Kaziranga, Dibrugarh, Sonitpur and Lakhimpur are among the five seats in Assam where voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in the first phase.

The richest among the 35 candidates in the fray is Diluwara Begum Chowdhury, an Independent woman candidate from the Kaziranga seat. Chowdhury owns fuel stations and has total assets of more than ₹17.58 crore. These include movable assets of ₹4.65 crore and ₹12.92 crore as immovable assets, PTI reported.

As per the election affidavits, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the most number of ‘crorepati’ candidates (5), followed by three of Congress, two of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and one each of the TMC and Bharatiya Gana Parishad (BGP). Besides them, three independents also have assets over ₹1 crore.

The average assets of AAP candidates are the highest at ₹6 crore. They are followed by the BJP candidates at over ₹4 crore, while the average assets of Congress candidates is ₹3 crore and the TMC and the BGP at ₹1 crore each.

AAP

After Diluwara Begum Chowdhury, AAP’s Manoj Dhanowar, who is contesting polls from Dibrugarh, is the second richest candidate, having total assets worth over ₹9.32 crore. Dhanowar has ₹2.85 crore as movable assets and ₹6.46 crore as immovable assets.

Another AAP leader Rishiraj Kaundinya, who is fielded from Sonitpur, is in the eighth position on the list. He has assets worth ₹2.91 crore, which includes ₹1.34 as movable and ₹1.56 crore as immovable assets.

BJP

Ranjit Dutta, an MLA and candidate from the Sonitpur Lok Sabha seat, is the richest among the BJP candidates, having total assets of ₹8.97 crore. Dutta has ₹5.52 crore worth of movable assets and ₹3.45 crore immovable assets.

Former Assam Chief Minister and Union Minister for Shipping and Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal, is the second richest BJP candidate. Contesting the 2024 elections from the Dibrugarh seat, Sonowal has total assets worth over ₹4.75 crore. This includes movable assets of ₹1.64 crore and ₹3.11 crore as immovable assets.

Sonowal is followed in the list by the saffron party’s Jorhat sitting MP Topon Gogoi, who has ₹3.22 crore of total assets, including ₹3 crore as movable and ₹22.50 lakh in immovable assets.

Another BJP leader on the list is Lakhimpur sitting MP Pradan Baruah. Eyeing another term from this seat, Baruah has total assets of ₹2.42 crore of which ₹1.05 crore is movable and ₹1.36 crore immovable.

Standing at the 12th position on the list is Rajya Sabha MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa. He is contesting the elections from Kaziranga seat and has assets worth ₹2 crore, out of which ₹1.45 crore are movable ₹55 lakh as immovable assets.

Congress

The richest among the Congress candidates is Uday Shankar Hazarika, who is in the fray from the Lakhimpur seat. He has total assets worth ₹6.82 crore, comprising ₹3.39 crore as movable assets and ₹3.42 crore as immovable assets.

Next to him is the grand old party’s Jorhat Lok Sabha candidate Gaurav Gogoi, who has net assets worth ₹4.90 crore. These include ₹2.65 crore as movable and ₹2.25 crore as immovable assets.

Premlal Ganju, who is fielded from Sonitpur seat, also makes it to the list of ‘crorepati’ candidates, having total assets worth ₹1.10 crore, which includes ₹26.62 lakh as movable and ₹83.50 lakh as immovable assets.

Others

Pradip Bhandari from Sonitpur and Abdul Hoque from Kaziranga are two Independent candidates who have declared their total assets over ₹2 crore.

TMC’s Ghana Kanta Chutia and Bharatiya Gana Parishad’s Sailen Chandra Malakar also have assets of ₹1 crore and more. Both of them are contesting for the Kaziranga seat.

Among the ones having the least declared asset is SUCI(C)’s Pallab Pegu. Contesting from Lakhimpur, Pegu has declared assets worth ₹38,169.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow