Patna: The richest candidate in the Bihar Assembly elections has declared net assets of Rs 373 crore while the poorest has no money.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), and Bihar Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 2,600 out of 2,616 candidates who are contesting the Bihar 2025 Assembly Elections that will be held in two phases on November 6 and 11.
Of the 2,616 contesting candidates, 431 are from national parties, 351 from state parties, 908 from registered unrecognised parties and 926 are contesting as independents.
The ADR report states that 519 (40%) of the 1,303 candidates in the first phase are millionaires.
The richest candidate is Ran Kaushal Pratap Singh alias Guddu Singh or the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) – a constituent of the Mahagatbandhan – is contesting from the Lauriya constituency in the West Champaran district.
A builder by profession, he has declared assets worth Rs 373 crore through an affidavit. Lauriya goes to the polls on November 11.
According to the affidavit, Singh has non-agricultural assets worth Rs 352 crore, shares and securities worth Rs 5.51 crore and agricultural land worth Rs 2.58 crore. His wife, too, has assets worth Rs 131 crore and investments worth Rs 6.59 crore.
His family owns seven luxury vehicles and around 3.4 kg of gold. Singh himself possesses 600 grams of gold and diamond jewellery, and they also own foreign-made firearms. Singh has a loan of around Rs 14.46 crore against his name while his wife owes Rs 1.12 crore.
The richest candidate in Phase-I is Kumar Pranay of the BJP who is contesting from the Munger seat. He has declared a net worth of Rs 170 crore in his affidavit. His wife’s declared movable assets are worth Rs 132 crore.
Nitish Kumar, the Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party candidate from the Gaya seat in the second phase is also among the richest candidates in the Bihar elections. He has declared a net worth of about Rs 250 crore.
Raj Kishor Gupta, an independent candidate from the Maharajganj seat in Siwan, has declared a net worth of Rs 137 crore.
Anant Kumar Singh, the JD-U strongman contesting from the Mokama seat, has a net worth of Rs 100 crore. He was recently arrested in connection with a murder in his constituency.
At the other end of the spectrum is Sunil Kumar Choudhary, who is contesting from the Pirpainti (SC) constituency on a BSP ticket. He has declared zero assets.
Mojahid Alam of the SUCI(C) is also among the poorest candidates, with a declared net worth of just Rs 1,000. He is contesting against the BJP’s sitting MLA, Sanjay Saraogi, and the RJD’s Om Prakash Kheria from the Darbhanga seat, which votes on 6 November.
Suresh Rajvanshi, a candidate of Moolniwasi Samaj Party from Wazirganj seat in Gaya district, is the poorest candidate in phase two. Rajvnashi has declared a net worth of Rs 1,100. He is up against the BJP’s Birendra Singh and the Congress’ Shashi Shekhar Singh in the elections.
Shatrudhan Varma, a candidate of the People’s Party of India (Democratic) from Barh in Patna, has also declared a net worth of Rs 1,000, while Shiv Kumar Yadav of SUCI (C), a candidate from Minapur in Muzaffarpur, has a net worth of Rs 2,023.
