Crorepati candidates crowd election fray
This years election seems to be all about money
By : amartejaswi
Update: 2014-04-27 05:51 GMT
Hyderabad: Elections in the state this time seems to be all about money. The number of crorepati candidates fielded by various political parties in the Telangana Assembly segments has seen a phenomenal rise. Nearly 77 per cent of Congress candidates contesting these elections in Andhra Pradesh are crorepatis. In 2009, there were 45 per cent crorepatis in the Congress.
TRS too has its share of crorepati candidates rising from 51 per cent to 64 per cent this time, while Telugu Desam has about 63 per cent crorepati candidates. YSR Congress has 36 per cent candidates with assets more than Rs1crore, while the BJP has the 80 per cent crorepati candidates scoring the highest. The results were brought out after an analysis of all affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch.
Soumya Kidambi, AP Coordinator for ADR, said, “It simply indicates that Indians are getting poorer and politicos are getting richer.” She further added that more and more businessmen are entering politics just to further their interests. Of about a thousand candidates contesting for 294 Assembly seats, 34 per cent are crorepatis, according to their affidavits.