SHILLONG: An analysis of contesting candidates by the Meghalaya Election Watch (MEW) has revealed startling figures of the ten candidates vying for the MP seat.
The Aam Aadmi Party candidate, Armerington Kharshiing, who did not mention his qualification in his affidavit has average assets amounting to Rs 1.05 crore. Eighty percent of the candidates who are contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election are crorepatis from Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats.
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and NPP candidate Purno A Sangma, sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala, UDP candidate Paul Lyngdoh and Congress candiate from Tura Darryl William Ch Momin are the most educated from among the ten candidates who are contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election from both the Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats.
As per the analysis of the Meghalaya Election Watch (MEW) of the affidavits submitted by all the ten candidates who are contesting the election, the three candidates (Sangma, Lyngdoh and Momin) have completed their Post Graduates while Pala completed his Bachelor of Engineering (BE).
BJP candidate Shibun Lyngdoh and independent candidate have completed their graduation while independent candidate PBM Basaiawmoit and CPI candidate Richard D Shabong completed their Higher Secondary.
The lone woman independent candidate Ivoryna Shylla is a matriculate.
The MEW in its analysis mentioned that five of the candidates are between 61 to 70 while four of the candidates are between the age of 41 to 50. Mentionably, only one candidate is in the age group of 25 to 30.
As per the analyis, eight out the ten candidates are crorepatis.
Independent candidate Denis Siangshai is the richest candidates with total movable and immovable assets worth Rs 128 crore followed by sitting Shillong MP Vincent H Pala with movable and immovable assets of Rs 49 crore.
The other crorepatis who are in the fray are NPP candidate Purno A Sangma (Rs 21 crore) BJP candidate Shibun Lyngdoh (Rs 7 crore), Independent candidate PBM Basaiawmoit (Rs 3 crore), independent candidate Ivoryna Shylla (Rs 2 crore), UDP candidate Paul Lyngdoh (Rs 1 crore) and AAP candidate Armerington Kharshiing (Rs 1 crore).
As per the analysis the average assets per candidate for the elections in the state is Rs 21.67 crores and party wise assets per candidate for INC (2 candidates) is Rs 24.91 crores, for NPP (1 candidate) is Rs 21.51 crores, for BJP (1 candidate) is 7.58 crores, for UDP (1 candidate) is Rs 1.73 crore, for AAP (1 candidate) is Rs 1.05 crore and for CPI (1 candidate) is Rs 13.28 crore.
“3 out of 10 contesting for 2 Lok Sabha seats have declared liabilities,” the analysis of MEW revealed adding “20 percent out of 10 candidates have not declared their PAN details and 80 percent have not declared details of their Income Tax Returns.”