The average Aam Aadmi Party candidate’s assets have doubled since the 2013 elections, while the Congress candidate has become poorer since then.
According to the Association for Democratic Reform’s report, the average assets of AAP candidates have gone up from Rs.2.49 crore in 2013 to Rs.5.89 crore in 2015. Average assets of Congress candidates have fallen from Rs.14.25 crore to Rs.9.6 crore. The BJP candidates’ average assets have gone down slightly from Rs.8.24 crore to Rs.7.96 crore.
These observations are from the candidates own affidavits, but there are six crorepati contenders who haven’t declared their PAN details and five high-income candidates have not given any income tax information.
Interestingly, the 62 former MLAs contesting again have lost some of their wealth as their average assets have gone down by Rs.17.77 lakh.
Shiromani Akali Dal’s Rajouri Garden candidate Manjinder Singh Sirsa’s assets have increased by Rs.3 crore, the highest increase among former MLAs.
Highlighting the financial diversity of candidates, ADR’s report says 80 contenders have declared asset worth less than Rs.1 lakh. The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha’s Burari candidate, Sushil Kumar Mishra, has declared zero assets.
According to his affidavit, Matiala candidate of Shreshthatam Rashtra Party Ram Charan Sahani has Rs.100 in assets.
The report adds that there are 32 candidates who have declared liabilities of Rs.1 crore. Once again, Mr. Sirsa leads the list with Rs.35 crore in liabilities, followed by Sumesh Shokeen of the Congress and AAP’s Parmila Tokas with Rs. 12 crore each.
