Manoj Tiwari, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) candidate from North East Delhi parliamentary constituency and the party’s head in the national capital, turned out to be the richest candidate among all Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and BJP nominees who filed their nominations on Monday.

Tiwari reported assets worth Rs 23 crore. His affidavit says his movable assets are worth Rs 8.51 crore and the value of his immovable properties is Rs 15.7 crore.

Compared to his affidavit in the 2014 polls, Tiwari’s assets — both movable and immovable — have shot up by more than 20% in the last five years.

The value of movable assets of Parvesh Sahib Singh, the sitting BJP MP from West Delhi, shot up by more than 75% from the last Lok Sabha elections.

Closely following Tiwari is Pankaj Kumar Gupta, the AAP candidate from Chandni Chowk, with moveable and immovable assets of up to Rs 20.42 crore.

While Tiwari owns five fourwheelers, Gupta, the second richest candidate, owns three four-wheelers.

Raghav Chadha, AAP’s face from South Delhi, owns assets worth only Rs 16.47 lakh, making him the ‘poorest candidate’ among AAP and BJP candidates who filed their nominations on Monday. Chadha is a chartered accountant, his affidavit says.

The BJP candidates who hold a master’s degree are Parvesh Sahib Singh, Manoj Tiwari and Harsh Vardhan.

While AAP’s candidate from east Delhi, Atishi, has completed her master’s degree in science (MS) from the University of Oxford, others such as Dilip Kumar Pandey from North East Delhi holds a master’s degree in computer application.

Pankaj Kumar Gupta is a BE in electronics.

Gugan Singh, AAP’s candidate from North West Delhi, which is a reserved seat, has studied till class eight.

Tiwari has three criminal cases pending against him, according to the affidavit. In the 2014 elections, however, he had no such case.

Atishi and Diliip Kumar Pandey, meanwhile, had one criminal case each pending against them.

Tiwari could not be contacted as he was in a meeting when reports last came in. One of his close aides, however, said: “While one of the pending cases relate to a model code of conduct violation in Madhya Pradesh in 2018, another is related to breaking of a shop seal in Gokulkpuri. The third one was registered on a complaint by the AAP.”

Atishi said, “The only case pending against me is a case of criminal defamation registered on the basis of a complaint lodged by a BJP functionary earlier this year.”

Dilip Pandey refused to take calls seeking his comment.

At least 103 candidates filed their nominations on Monday, taking the total number of candidates who have filed their papers so far to 185.

The maximum number of candidates — 34 till Monday — has been fielded from North East. Only 15 candidates have filed their nominations from North West Delhi.

The last date of filing nomination papers is April 23 — Tuesday — and the last date for withdrawal is April 26.

First Published: Apr 23, 2019 10:44 IST