Declaration of assets by all contesting candidates for elections belies the widely acknowledged belief that a majority of them possess at least a minimum of three times or more than what they filed in their declarations.
In several cases, well known candidates have assets worth over Rs.100 crore and in some cases much more but show hardly a quarter of that wealth. That is because they hold properties and cash in the names of their family members. However, going by the declaration of assets and wealth, it makes less interesting reading but nevertheless brackets those who have made honest from dishonest declarations.
Former Food & Civil Supplies secretary Ramongo Lotha, who is contesting from Sanis A/C in Wokha district, is the richest among the 193 candidates contesting the 2018 polls. While he, with a total asset of more than Rs 38 crore, is the richest, KL Chishi and Neiphiu Rio follow him closely. Contesting from Ghaspani-I A/C, Akavi N Zhimomi is the poorest candidate as he had declared zero asset in his affidavit. This was stated by Hekani Jakhalu, founder of YouthNet Nagaland, which had partnered with Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for analysing criminal background, financial, education, gender and other details of the candidates. Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Jakhalu said the analyses were made based on declarations in affidavits filed by the candidates during nomination. According to the analyses, out of 193 candidates, 114 candidates were crore patis who had a total value of Rs 740 crore. The top 10 crore patis have a total value of Rs 2,40,04,94,126.
Party wise, NPF has 43 crorepatis, NDPP 24 crore patis, BJP 13 crore patis, NPP 12 crore patis, JD (U) seven crore patis and Congress has six crorepatis. Out of the 193 candidates, nine did not declare their PAN details, while 27 candidates did not declare their source of income.
While political giant chief minister TR Zeliang has been included among the top 54 richest candidates, former ministers and MLAs like G Kaito Aye, Tokheho Yepthomi, Khuzholuzo Nienu, Neiba Kronu have been listed as 11th, 13th,14th and 15th richest candidates respectively. The average asset of candidates is Rs 3.76 crore.
While the average asset of 56 NPF candidates is Rs 3.95 crore, the average assets of other parties are Rs 5.07 crore of 39 NDPP candidates, Rs 1.80 crore of 25 NPP candidates, Rs 5.83 crore of 20 BJP candidates, Rs 1.36 crore of 18 Congress candidates and Rs 6.43 crore of 13 JD (U) candidates. 11 Independent candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.68 crore.
Meanwhile, three candidates declared themselves as illiterate, while 16 candidates are 8th passed, 19 candidates 10th passed, 17 are 12th passed, 69 graduates, 27 are post graduates and 36 are doctorates. Further, 79 candidates had declared their age to be between 25 & 50 years, while 117 candidates are between the age of 51-80 years and only one declared his age to be above 80 years.
Fortunately, only three candidates have criminal cases against them, with each of them belonging to NPF, NDPP and BJP.