Bhubaneswar: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Baijayant Panda is the richest of the 66 candidates who are in fray in the fourth and last phase of Lok Sabha polls in Odisha.
At least 20 of the Lok Sabha candidates (30 per cent) for the final round of election in the state have declared assets worth more than Rs one crore, according to a report of Odisha Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Panda, who is the BJP nominee from Kendrapada Lok Sabha seat, is richest with assets worth Rs 148.08 crore, it said.
In the affidavit submitted while filing his nomination, Panda has declared movable assets worth Rs 1, 21, 60, 13, 384 and movable property valued at Rs 26, 48, 65, 324.
Similarly, independent candidate in Kendrapada Lok Sabha seat Sriram Pandey is second richest with Rs 18.23 crore assets followed by sitting BJP MP Manjulata Mandal from Bhadrak with declared assets worth Rs 14.86 crore.
With just Rs 15,00, Bhanumati Das of Utkal Samaj Party who is contesting from Jagatsinghpur constituency, is the poorest candidate in round IV.
Other candidates with low declared assets are independent candidate in Balasore Deepak Sankar Thakur Giri with Rs 6,000 and BSP’s Bibhuti Bhusan Majhi having Rs 6,061 from Jagatsinghpur.
BJP candidates have an average asset value of Rs 27.12 crore, followed by BJD nominees with Rs 6.61 crore, and Congress aspirants with Rs 2.37 crore.
The last phase of polls will be held in six Lok Sabha constituencies of Balasore, Bhadrak, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Kendrapada, and Mayurbhanj on June 1.
