CPM candidate richest in 1st phase, 2nd and 3rd from TMC
Times of India | 19 April 2024
Kolkata: A total of 10 crorepatis will contest the first phase of the Lok Sabha poll scheduled on Friday. Of the 37 candidates contesting from Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar, the richest is from the CPM.
The SUCI candidate from Alipurduar, Chandan Oraon, has the lowest declared asset of Rs 12,000.
Debraj Barman, an assistant teacher with a Jalpaiguri high school, has declared his and his wife’s total assets at Rs 3.9 crore.While Barman’s deposits in banks and other financial institutions is more than Rs 2 crore, he has other policies, deposits and jewellery amounting to more than Rs 1 crore. Barman has also declared that his wife is also a teacher at a primary school in Jalpaiguri. He has also declared his total income in 2022-23 was Rs 6 lakh while that of his wife at Rs 4 lakh.
The next two richest candidates — Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia and Nirmal Chandra Roy — are contesting on Trinamool tickets from Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri respectively. While Basunia has a total asset of Rs 2.69 crore, Roy has declared his total assets at Rs 2.07 crore. Roy, a professor with a college at Jalpaiguri is also a sitting MLA. He has declared his income for 2022-23 as Rs 27.5 lakh. His wife, a headmistress with a school has a declared income of more than Rs 9 lakh for the same year.
Barma Basunia is a retired high school teacher and his wife is an anganwadi worker. His income in 2022-23 was Rs 10.29 lakh. The affidavits of the candidates collated by the Association for Democratic Reforms show that the average asset of the 37 candidates is Rs 62 lakh against Rs 56 lakh in 2019.
The affidavits also show that of the 37 candidates contesting in the first phase from the three districts there are two crorepatis each from the Trinamool, BJP and the Left Front. RSP’s crorepati candidate Mili Oraon declared the highest annual income at Rs 67 lakh for 2022-23. There is one crorepati candidate from Congress and three independents.
Twenty candidates in this phase are graduates and post-graduates. Of them, 3 have doctorate and seven have post-graduate degrees. Ten candidates are qualified till class 10. BJP’s Nisith Pramanik has the highest number of criminal cases against him followed by the BJP’s Manoj Tigga and Trinamool’s Basunia.