Gujarat Elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated the highest number of “crorepatis” for the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections. Rameshbhai Virjibhai Tilala, who will be contesting from the Rajkot South constituency as a BJP candidate, tops the ‘crorepati’ list with declared total assets of Rs 175.78 crore, a report by Gujarat Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms, released on Thursday has revealed.
Tilala is followed by Congress candidate from Rajkot East Indranil Rajguru with total assets worth Rs 162.92 crore, and Jawaharbhai Pethaljibhai Chavda, BJP candidate from Manavadar, with declared assets of 130.15 crore, the ADR report showed.
In the 2022 Phase 1 Gujarat elections, which are scheduled on December 1, out of the 788 candidates, 211 (27 per cent) are crorepatis. There has been a jump from 2017 phase 1 Gujarat elections in crorepati candidates which was at 21 per cent, and stood at 27 per cent in the 2022 phase 1 elections.
Among the parties, 79 (89 per cent) out of 89 candidates analysed from BJP, 65 (73 per cent) out of 89 candidates analysed from INC and 33 (38 per cent) out of 88 candidates analysed from AAP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
A total of 73 candidates have assets worth Rs 5 crores and above, 77 candidates have assets worth Rs 2-5 crores, and 125 candidates have assets worth Rs 50 lakh-2 crores, the report read.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the phase 1 election is Rs 2.88 crores.
Meanwhile, only one Independent candidate namely Bhupendra Bhavanbhai Patoliya from Rajkot West constituency has declared zero assets in the affidavit, the report showed.
Also Read: Gujarat Elections 2022: Full list of AAP candidates and their constituencies
Elections to the 182-seat Gujarat Assembly will be held in two phases – December 1 and 5. The results will be out on December 8, along with the results of Himachal Pradesh Assembly.