New Delhi, Nov 15 (IANS): Out of the 1,181 candidates contesting the Chhattisgarh assembly polls, 299 are millionaires, out of which 185 are from the national parties, a report revealed on Wednesday.

In the Phase 1 polls, there were 46 out of 223 crorepati candidates, with an average asset of Rs 1.34 crore while In the second phase, the report said, there are 253 crorepati candidates out of the 955 analysed. The average asset of the candidates is Rs 1.99 crore.

The report said that 17 out of 90 BJP candidates and 16 out of 90 candidates of the Congress have criminal cases against them.

The report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Chhattisgarh Election Watch analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 1,178 out of 1,181 candidates, who are contesting the Chhattisgarh assembly elections Phase I and II.

The report said, "A total of 185 candidates of the national parties are crorepatis, 33 from state parties are crorepatis, 32 from registered unrecognised party and 49 independent candidates are crorepatis."

The report said there are 84 candidates who have declared assets of more than Rs 5 crore, 106 candidates have assets worth more than Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore, 251 candidates who have assets ranging between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore.

The report said that there are 261 candidates with assets between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, and 476 candidates with assets less than Rs 10 lakh.

The report said, "Out of the 90 candidates, 77 Congress candidates are crorepatis and 71 out of 90 candidates of the BJP are crorepatis."

It said that 28 out of 77 candidates analysed from the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J), 22 out of 54 candidates of AAP and 15 out of 59 candidates of the BSP are crorepatis.

The report stated that in 2018, the Congress fielded 66 crorepati candidates while the BJP had fielded 74 crorepati candidates. In 2018, the BSP out of 34 candidates analysed had fielded 14 crorepati candidates, while of the 83 AAP candidates analysed it had fielded 39 crorepati candidates.

The report said that average assets per candidate contesting in Chhattisgarh are Rs 1.87 crore, as compared to the 1,256 candidates analysed in 2018 with assets of Rs 1.68 crore.

The average assets of 90 Congress candidates in 2023 are Rs 11.58 crore, while for the 90 BJP candidates it is Rs 5.32 crore. The report said that 54 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 2.49 crore, 77 Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) nominees have average assets of Rs 1.29 crore and average assets of 59 BSP candidates stand at Rs 84.81 lakh.

Congress leader and state deputy chief minister TS Singh Deo is the richest candidate in the state with assets to the tune of Rs 447.71 crore. He is followed by the party's Ramesh Singh Vakil from Mahendragarh assembly seat with assets of Rs 73.39 crore and at the third spot is the Congress's Amitesh Shukla from Rajim assembly seat with assets worth Rs 48.64 crore, the report said.

The report also highlighted that Parwati Teta, who is contesting from Kanker (ST) seat as the candidate of the Azad Janta Party, Kalawati Sarthi contesting as independent candidate from Bhatgaon assembly seat and Gautam Prasad Sahu also an independent candidate from Beltara, Nagesh Puram from Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) from Mohla-Manpur (ST) seat and Yashwant Kumar Nishad from Johar Chhattisgarh Party contesting from Kharsia assembly seats have declared zero assets.

The report stated that Rajratna Ukey contesting as the National Youth Party candidate from Mungeli assembly seat has declared the lowest assets of Rs 500.

The report highlighted that Congress's Dr Ajay Kumar Tirkey has declared the maximum liability to the tune of Rs 8.25 crore, Shankarlal Agarwal, who is an independent candidate from Raigarh assembly seat has liability to the tune of Rs 7.94 crore and the BJP's Bhawna Bohra from Pandariya assembly seat has liability to the tune of Rs 6.03 crore.

The report also said that a total of 114 candidates have not declared their PAN details in their affidavits.

Pointing out the educational qualifications of the candidates in Chhattisgarh, the report stated that 616 candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between fifth to 12th standard, while 502 candidates have declared having educational qualification of graduate or above and 26 candidates are diploma holders. The report also said that 23 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and seven candidates are illiterates and four have not given their educational qualification.

The report stated that 459 candidates are between the age group of 25 to 40 years while 585 candidates have declared their age between 41 to 60 years.

It said that there are 132 candidates aged between 60 to 80 years and one candidate has declared her age at 24 years and one candidate is 86 years old.

The report said that there are 155 women candidates contesting the assembly elections this year as compared to 125 in 2018.

The Congress has fielded 18 women candidates while the BJP has fielded 15 women candidates.

Polling for the first phase for 20 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh took place on November 7 and voting for 70 assembly seats is scheduled on November 17. Counting of votes will take place on December 3.