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Nagaland Elections 2023: 87% of NDPP-BJP candidates are crorepatis: Report

February 26, 2023
Bharat Times

Nagaland will go to polls on February 27 to elect a new 60-member assembly.

Nagaland will go to polls on Monday to elect a new 60-member assembly. The 2023 elections are being held amid the process of finding a solution to the Naga political issue, which has resulted in Nagaland becoming virtually opposition-less in 2021.

Following are the facts of the Association for Democratic Reforms report:

  1. Ahead of the election, 116 candidates have declared assets of more than one crore rupees, which is two more than the previous elections. 52 of their candidates have declared assets of more than Rs 1 crore, 87 per cent of NDPP-BJP candidates are crorepatis.

  2. The average assets per candidate in the 2023 elections is Rs 5.13 crore. In the 2018 elections, the average assets per candidate was Rs 3.76 crore.

  3. Dr Sukhto A Sema, contesting from Pughoboto on a Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) ticket, is the richest candidate in this election with assets of over Rs 160 crore.

  4. Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio is the second richest candidate with assets of over Rs 46 crore.

  5. T Ngampai Konyak, the Congress candidate contesting from Phomching, has declared assets of only Rs 5,251 which is the lowest among all the candidates.

  6. This year, 53 candidates are contesting for re-election, out of which 36 belong to the NDPP-BJP alliance.

  7. In the last five years, the average assets of these 53 candidates increased by 30 per cent to Rs 7.10 crore.

  8. The assets of BS Nganlung Phom, the NDPP candidate from Tamlu, are set to grow from Rs 21.91 lakh in 2018 to Rs 15.05 crore in 2023 – a whopping 6,870 per cent increase.

  9. Seven of the 184 candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2018, only three out of 193 candidates had declared criminal cases against themselves.

  10. Only four women candidates are contesting the upcoming elections – two from NDPP, one each from BJP and Congress. In 2018, out of 193 candidates, five were women. Interestingly, Nagaland has not had any woman legislator since its inception in 1963.

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