Pema Khandu declares assets worth Rs 163.50 crores before election

Itanagar, April 5, 2019:

It seems like Arunachal Pradesh is the land of crorepatis as out of the 184 candidates who will be contesting the ensuing Assembly elections on 11 April, 131 have declared assets worth over Rs 1 crore.

Out of those, Chief Minister Pema Khandu is the richest as he has declared assets worth a whopping Rs. 163,50,58,142 cores. Khandu will be contesting from Mukto Assembly Constituency in the ensuing elections. Lombo Tayeng, a Congress candidate who will contest from Mebo, is not too far behind as he boasts of a net worth of Rs. 1,48,54,05,994 crores.

Khandu’s brother, who will contest from Tawang on a BJP ticket, has declared assets worth Rs. 1,09,43,93,772 crores.

The average of assets per candidate in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections is Rs. 9.86 crores. The growth in average assets of re-contesting MLAs is Rs. 7.96 crore - an increase of 76 percent.

ADR reports that among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 60 BJP candidates is Rs. 14.13 crores, 46 INC candidates is Rs 11.95 crores, 30 NPP candidates have average assets of Rs 6.43 crores, 15 JD(U) candidates have average assets worth Rs 7.79 crores, 12 JD(S) candidates have average assets worth Rs 4.30 crores, 9 PPA candidates have average assets worth Rs 1.71 crores and 11 Independent candidates have average assets of Rs 3.38 crores.

The Arunachal Chief Minister has found himself in the midst of controversy as Rs. 1.80 crore rupees was reportedly seized from a vehicle in Pasighat belonging to the Chief Minister’s convoy and the opposition Congress has claimed that a cash-for-votes is afoot in the frontier state just before Prime Minister Modi’s arrival in the state to address a rally in the state.

It may be mentioned that the two Khandu’s are sons of ex-Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu who died in a helicopter crash in 2011.