264 'crorepatis' to contest in Assam assembly election 2021

Guwahati: A total of 264 'crorepati' (millionaire) candidates comprising 27.90 per cent of the 946 contestants, shall be duking it out in Assam for 126 assembly constituencies in three phases.

United Peoples Party, Liberal (UPPL)s Kokrajhar West (ST) contestant Manaranjan Brahma, with total assets worth Rs 268 crore, leads all other candidates by a hefty margin.

Rahul Roy from Udharbond with assets worth Rs 136 cr and AIUDF's Jamunamukh nominee Sirajuddin Ajmal with assets worth Rs 111 crore, are second and third on the list.

All three candidates have shown their source of income from business, with Brahma's wife filing her source as agricultural income.

Roy it needs mention here is the son of former powerful Congress minister Gautam Roy who joined the BJP and is contesting as a party candidate from Katigora assembly constituency.

Both Roy and his wife Daisy Roy are contesting as independent candidates.

Ajmal is the younger brother of AIUDF chief and perfume baron Badruddin Ajmal.

After analyzing the sworn affidavits of the candidates, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) found that the Congress has the highest 64 candidates with assets above a crore, followed by BJP with 60, the newly formed Assam Jatiya Parishad with 31, the Asom Gana Parishad - 22, AIUDF- 11, BPF eight.

On the other hand, Sabendra Basumatary of Voters International Party has the lowest assets of only Rs 2,500 as declared in the affidavit while Kanak Basumatary, also of VPI, has Rs 5,000 and independent candidate Bishnu Dhari Mallah from Ratabari (SC) has Rs 8,000 as assets.