Bhubaneswar: As many as 121 (31%) out of the total 394 candidates who are contesting in the 4th phase of the Odisha Assembly Elections 2024 from 42 constituencies are crorepatis, according to an analysis of their self-sworn affidavits by the Odisha Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties, 37(88%) out of 42 candidates analysed from BJD, 30(71%) out of 42 candidates analysed from BJP, 21(50%) out of 42 candidates analysed from INC, 1(33%) out of 3 candidates analysed from CPI and 1(33%) out of 3 candidates analysed from CPI(M) have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Odisha Assembly Elections 2024 Phase IV is Rs 2.62 Crore.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 42 BJD candidates analysed is Rs. 11.09 Crores, 42 INC candidates analysed is Rs 5.49 Crores, 42 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.86 Crores, 3 CPI(M) candidates have average assets of Rs 1.10 Crores and 3 CPI candidates have average assets worth Rs. 43.31 Lakhs.
Subasini Jena BJD candidate from Basta assembly constituency is the richest among the candidates with total assets of Rs 1,35,17,87,484 followed by Subasini Sahoo BJD candidate from Simulia Rs 91,75,61,096 and Niranjan Patnaik Rs 86,58,03,946.
Similarly, two candidates Sanjay Kumar Das an Independent candidate from the Dhamnagar assembly constituency and Gopal Krushna Mohanty Ambedkarite Party of India candidate from Korei have declared zero assets.
