Rajya Sabha polls: 87% candidates crorepatis; JD(U)’s candidate with highest assets worth Rs 4,078 crore

NEW DELHI: As the Rajya Sabha polls are approaching, a report revealed that eighty-seven per cent of the candidates contesting the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections are crorepatis. The data release by election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) says that, with a whopping Rs 4,078 crore, JD(U)'s Mahendra Prasad has the highest assets. In the report, the election watchdog analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 63 out of 64 candidates contesting for the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on March 23 for 58 seats in 16 states. Image: PTI The other top candidate with the highest assets is SP's actor-turned-politician Jaya Bachchan. While the others are - B M Farooq of JD (S) (over Rs 766 crore), Abhishek Manu Singhvi of Congress (over 649 crore),  CM Ramesh of TDP (over Rs 258 crore). Jaya Bachchan, who is contesting from Uttar Pradesh, has a declared liability of over Rs 105.64 crore, while Singhvi has over Rs 98 crore liability, Farooq over Rs 97 crore and Ramesh over Rs 39 crore. One candidate -- Dhiraj Kumar Sahu (INC)-- contesting from Jharkhand has not been analysed as his affidavit was badly scanned. Among the party-wise crorepati candidates, 26 out of 29 candidates from the BJP, 10 out of 11 candidates from Congress, 3 out of 4 candidates from AITC, 3 candidates from TRS, two candidates from JD(U) and a candidate from  SP have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, the release said. The release also says, five women candidates are contesting the election to the Upper House.