Just five candidates put up by the Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), have declared average assets of Rs. 3.95 crore, much higher than the average of Rs.3.53 crore by 42 candidates of its ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the fourth phase of the Bihar elections on November 1. The eight Congress candidates in the fray are not far behind with average assets of Rs. 3.33 crore.

Among themselves, the top three richest candidates in the fourth phase have combined assets worth over Rs. 63 crore. Two of these - Prabhu Narayan and Angesh Kumar - are Independents and one – R.P Gupta - is from BJP.

Overall, the average assets of 776 candidates in the fray for 55 seats stood at Rs. 1.25 crore, according to an analysis of their self-​sworn affidavits by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Incidentally, 470 (61%) out of 776 candidates have not declared their income-tax details.

In the party-wise break-up, BJP has 28 ‘crorepati’candidates out of 42 in the fray, followed by 16 out of 21 from JD(U), six out of eight Congress candidates, 15 out of 26 RJD candidates and five out of five LJP candidates.

When it comes to crime, out of 776 candidates, 253 have declared criminal cases against themselves, with 201 declaring ‘serious criminal charges’, such as murder, attempt to murder, creating communal disharmony, kidnapping, crimes against women among others.

BJP tops this list, with 28 out of its 42 candidates declaring criminal cases, followed by 11 out 21 candidates from the Communist Party of India, 15 out of 21 candidates fielded by the Janata Dal (United) and 17 out of 26 candidates from the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

With regard to educational qualifications, 380 out of 776 (49 per cent) total candidates studied between Class V- XII, while 286 declared being graduate or above, and 102 candidates said they were ‘simple literates’.

​In this phase, only 7 per cent of the total candidates are women.