Phase 1 of Lok Sabha Election 2019 will be held on April 11, Thursday, on 91 seats and voters will be choosing their representatives from nearly 1,300 candidates. Before the first phase of the national election, the Association for Democratic Reform (ADR), a non-governmental organisation that works towards electoral and political reforms, has released a report identifying the richest and poorest candidates.
According to the report, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy or KV Reddy, the Congress party candidate from Telangana’s Chevella Lok Sabha constituency, is the richest candidate in phase 1 elections with family assets of Rs. 895 crore.
Mr Reddy owns movable assets of Rs. 223 crore, while the movable assets of his wife K Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals stood at Rs. 613 crore. The movable assets of their dependent son were nearly Rs. 20 crore. He also has immovable assets of Rs. 36 crore while the same of his wife are valued at Rs. 1.81 crore.
In 2014 general election, he had declared family assets of over Rs. 528 crore.
The second richest candidate in Phase 1 of Lok Sabha election 2019 is Prasad V Potluri or PVP from YSR Congress Party. Mr Potluri is contesting from Vijayawada.
An industrialist, he owns several business firms in the Telugu states.
23 leaders have declared zero asset, says the report.
The poorest candidate in Phase 1 of Lok Sabha election 2019 are Nalla Prem Kumar contesting on JDU ticket from Telangana’s Chevella Lok Sabha constituency has declared asset of Rs. 500.
Interestingly, the richest and the poorest candidates in the first phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections are contesting against each other from the same seat in the first phase of general election 2019.
Rajendra Kendruka contesting from Koraput Odisha has declared assets worth Rs. 565. He was a Once a Maoist sympathiser who laid down his arms in 2013 to join the mainstream. The 27-year-old candidate is contesting the election on a CPI- ML ticket.
The ADR report shows that of the 1,266 candidates analysed for the first phase of national election, 401 are crorepatis, which means they have declared assets worth Rs. 1 crore or more.
The Congress has fielded the most crorepati candidates. BJP is a close second for the croreparti candidates. The report shows that 70 crorepati candidates have not declared their income tax returns.
The average asset per candidate contesting in the Lok Sabha Phase 1 election is Rs. 6.63 crore.