According to poll reforms advocacy group, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), among the names of candidates announced for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly polls, the richest candidate is Amit Agarwal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) (Mathura Cantonment) with assets worth over Rs 148 crore.
Agarwal is followed by SK Sharma of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) (Mathura) with Rs 112 crore, and Rahul Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) (Sikandrabad) with just over Rs 100 crore, news agency PTI reported..
The average of assets among major parties as analysed by ADR is:
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Rs 13.23 crore for 28 SP candidates
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Rs 12.01 crore for 57 BJP candidates
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Rs 8.32 crores for 29 Rastriya Lok Dal candidates
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Rs 7.71 crore for 56 BSP candidates
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Rs 3.08 crore for 58 Indian National Congress candidates
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Rs 1.23 crore for 52 Aam Aadmi Party candidates.
Voting in 58 Assembly constituencies across 11 districts of western UP with over 600 candidates, including Independents, is scheduled to begin from 10 February.
The two candidates with zero assets declared are Bahujan Mukti Party's Kailash Kumar, who has filed nomination from Atrauli in Aligarh, and Rashtra Nirman Party's Km Priti, who will be contesting from the Meerapur seat in Muzaffarnagar, ADR noted.
Of all candidates, 261 (or 42 percent) have declared liabilities in their affidavits, the report further added.