Poonam Sinha richest candidate in 5th phase: ADR

New Delhi:Poonam Sinha, wife of Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha and the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Lucknow, is the richest candidate with declared assets of over Rs 193 crore in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls, according to the National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Sinha topped the list of rich candidates with declared assets of over Rs 193 crore followed by Vijay Kumar Mishra, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) candidate from Sitapur, with over Rs 177 crore assets.

The third on the list was BJP candidate from Hazaribagh Jayant Sinha, with declared assets worth over Rs 77 crore.

Three candidates in the fray have declared zero assets.

According to NEW and ADR, 184 of the 668 candidates contesting in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, have assets worth Rs 1 crore or more. Most of these 184 candidates are from the BJP.

The ADR has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 668 out of the 674 candidates contesting in the fifth phase of polling on May 6 across 51 Lok Sabha constituencies in seven states.

"Six candidates have not been analysed due to unavailability of their properly scanned and complete affidavits, till the time of making this report," the organisation said.

"Among the major parties, 38 of the 48 BJP candidates, 32 of the 45 Congress candidates, 17 of the 33 BSP candidates, 8 of the 9 SP candidates and 31 of the 252 independent candidates have declared assets more than Rs 1 crore," it said.

It added that the average worth of assets per candidate contesting in the fifth phase of polling was Rs 2.57 crore.

"Among the major parties, 48 BJP candidates have average assets of Rs 6.91 crore, 45 Congress candidates have average assets of Rs 8.74 crore, 33 BSP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.32 crore, and 9 SP candidates have average assets worth Rs 31.57 crore," it said.

While 264 candidates have declared their educational qualifications between Class 5 and Class 12, 348 candidates have declared themselves as graduate or above. "Forty three candidates in the race are just literate and six candidates are illiterate," said the oragnisations.