Gujarat polls: 51 crorepatis out of 668 candidates

There is a surfeit of crorepatis--51 to be precise--among the 668 candidates in the fray for the first phase of polls to be held on December 11 in Gujarat.

This information was compiled by Gujarat Election Watch, a non-governmental organisation, from the affidavits filed by candidates with their nomination forms.

A Supreme Court judgment of 2003 had said that the candidates will have to declare their assets and liabilities and that of their spouse's and dependents along with their nomination papers.

Of the 51 crorepati candidates, 21 belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party and 24 are from the Congress. The remaining six are from other parties.

Energy Minister in the BJP government Saurabh Patel tops the list of crorepaties and has declared assets worth more than Rs 65 crore.

The most interesting thing about the analysis is that out of the 51 crorepati candidates, five do not have PAN number. Three of them are from the BJP and one each from the Congress and the BSP.

One of the three BJP candidates, who have not given a PAN number, include former Member of Parliament Dilip Sanghani who is contesting from Amreli constituency.

The Election Watch has found that 49 candidates contesting the elections have assets of more than Rs 10 lakhs but do not have PAN numbers. Out of these 49 candidates, 20

belong to the BJP, 18 to the Congress, eight are from Bahujan Samaj Party and three are from the Janata Dal-United.

In terms of liabilities, 28 candidates have liabilities of more than Rs 10 lakh each. The party-wise analysis shows BJP with 17 such candidates, Congress with eight and BSP with three.

BJP's candidate in Dwarka Pabubha Manek tops the lists with liabilities to the tune of Rs 2.34 crore.

"A comparative study can be done about the candidates after they become legislators when they contest next time", Jagdeep Choker, a retired professor of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a member of Election Watch, said.

"The aim of our carrying out this exercise is to make the voters aware about their candidates," Choker added.