Sixty-five per cent of Bharatiya Janata Party candidates contesting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections have assets of more than Rs 1 crore, stated a report released on Saturday.
The report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Delhi Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,336 candidates out of 1349, who will contest the civic body polls on December 4.
The BJP has been in power in Delhi’s civic body for last the 15 years.
The report found that the average assets per candidate contesting the elections this year are Rs 2.27 crore as compared to an average of Rs 1.61 crore for 2,315 candidates in the 2017 polls.
Among the major political parties contesting the elections, the average assets per candidate for 249 BJP contenders are worth Rs 4.04 crore. For the 248 candidates of the Aam Aadmi Party, the average assets per contender are worth Rs 3.74 crore. Among the 245 Congress candidates, the average assets are worth Rs 1.98 crore.
BJP’s Ram Dev Sharma, who is contesting from the 79 Ballimaran ward, has declared total assets worth over Rs 66 crore. Nandini Sharma, who is representing the Hindutva party from 149 Malviya Nagar ward, has declared assets over Rs 49.84 crore.
AAP’s Jitender Bansala, who is contesting from 248-Karawal Nagar ward has declared assets worth over Rs 48.27 crore, said the report.
The top 10 richest candidates in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls comprise five BJP candidates, three AAP candidates and two independents.
The report also found that among the major parties, 45 out of 248 AAP candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. While in the BJP, 27 out of 249 and 25 out of 245 candidates from Congress have criminal cases against them.
Meanwhile, 60 of the total candidates are illiterate while 22 are just literate, the report said. More than half the candidates have only studied up to Class 12 or less.
The results of the civic body polls in the national capital will be declared on December 7.
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