Meghalaya’s richest candidate is a school dropout with assets worth Rs 290 crore

A National People’s Party (NPP) candidate with Rs 290 crore assets has emerged as the richest among all 443 candidates who have filed nominations for this month’s assembly election in Meghalaya.

In his affidavit, Ngaitlang Dhar, who is contesting from Umroi seat in Ri Bhoi district, mentions about owning 144 vehicles including over 100 trucks, a Mercedes Benz car, a BMW car and a Toyota SUV.

The 49-year-old, who is a business tycoon with interests in construction and transport, was also the richest candidate in 2013, when he contested and won on a Congress ticket from the same seat. His net worth was Rs 235 crore then.

In the 69-page affidavit listing his assets, Dhar, who studied till Class 8, gives details of his immovable property worth over Rs 219 crore and movable property valued at over Rs 71 crore.

He also has Rs 15 lakh in cash, around Rs 1.4 crore in eight different bank accounts and invested Rs 43 crores in mutual funds. Fifteen agricultural plots and 36 non-agricultural plots across Meghalaya are also registered in his name.

A four-storey commercial building in Gurgaon valued at Rs 5.25 crore, and four residential properties including a house in Shillong worth Rs 4.48 crore and a flat in Guwahati valued at Rs 1.05 crore are also listed.

Dhar has liabilities of over Rs 3.95 crore from two loans taken to purchase heavy vehicles. His wife Mimi Lamare has movable and immovable properties valued at Rs 4.92 crore.

Dhar’s 25-year-old son Dasakhiatbha Lamare is contesting from Mawhati seat on an NPP ticket and his brother Sniawbhalang, who had won from Nartiang in 2013 and was a minister in the ruling Congress government, is contesting from the same seat this year, also as an NPP candidate.

Sniawbhalang’s brother-in-law Wailadmiki Shylla is another candidate from the family who is contesting from Jowai on a NPP ticket.

Dhar’s son’s total assets are over Rs 40 crore while his brother’s assets are over Rs 3.84 crore. Shylla’s total assets are over Rs 20 lakh.

Headed by former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma’s son Conrad Sangma, NPP is an ally of the ruling NDA in the Centre. The party had won just two of the 60 seats in Meghalaya five years ago. .

But this time around its prospects have been boosted by entry of several sitting MLAs, like Dhar, from the Congress. The party is contesting from 53 seats this time, next only to Congress, which fielded candidates in 59 constituencies.

The NPP is also part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance and is a coalition partner in the BJP-led government in Manipur. But it has kept its distance from the saffron outfit in Meghalaya—keeping doors open for a post-poll alliance.

Meghalaya will go to polls on February 27.