Over 90 per cent of the re-contesting legislators in Uttar Pradesh have become richer in the past five years, with BJP candidates showing the highest increase in their assets since 2017, according to a report by a non-government poll watchdog. The report noted that the average assets of 301 such legislators, which also include independents, was worth Rs 5.68 crores in 2017.
However, according to their 2022 poll affidavits, their average assets increased to reach worth Rs 8.87 crores, it said.
"Out of the 301 re-contesting MLAs/MLCs, assets of 284 MLAs/MLCs (94 per cent) have increased ranging from 0 per cent to 22,057 per cent and assets of 17 MLAs/MLCs (6%) have decreased ranging from -1% to -36%," the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Uttar Pradesh Election Watch (UPEW) said in its latest report. According to the report, BJP candidate from Rae Bareli Aditi Singh is among the top five candidates in fray whose assets have significantly increased since 2017.
The report indicates that her assets have increased by worth Rs 30 crore in five years, from Rs 13.98 lakh in 2017 to Rs 30.98 crore, an increase by a whopping 22,057 per cent.
Singh, who joined the BJP last year, had contested the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls on a Congress ticket from Rae Bareily and won the seat by a huge margin.
According to the report, the assets of the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate from Mubarakpur constituency Shah Alam, popularly known as Guddu Jamali, have increased by Rs 77.09 crore in five years.
In his poll affidavit for 2022 UP assembly polls, the assets declared by the AIMIM leader was worth Rs 195.85 crore. It was Rs 118.76 crores in 2017 as declared by him in poll affidavit for the last assembly polls in the state, according to the report.
The AIMIM candidate is followed by the BJP's Sahender Singh Ramala whose assets have increased by Rs 46.45 crore, from Rs 38.04 crore in 2017 to Rs 84.50 crore in 2022, the report said. Ramala is contesting assembly polls on a BJP ticket from Chhaprauli constituency.
Assets of Praveen Patel of the BJP from Phulpur constituency have risen by Rs 31.99 crore, from Rs 8.26 crore in 2017 to Rs 40.26 crores in 2022," it said.
According to the party-wise analysis conducted by the ADR-UPEW, the BJP candidates seeking to be elected for another term this time have together shown the highest increase in their assets in five years. The average assets of 223 such BJP candidates in fray have increased by 59.87 per cent, from Rs 5.27 crore in 2017 to 8.43 crore in 2022, the report indicates.
The BJP is followed by the Samajwadi Party (SP) with its 55 candidates seeking to be elected to the state legislative assembly together showing an average increase in their assets by 46.18 per cent, from Rs 4.60 crore in 2017 to Rs 6.73 crore in 2022, according to the report.
