Worth ₹36 cr, Rohini richest candidate in Bihar in 5th phase

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad’s younger daughter Rohini Acharya, a medical graduate who is making her debut in electoral politics as the party candidate from Saran in the ongoing parliamentary elections in the country, owns assets worth ₹36 crore and is the richest among the 80 candidates in the fray in five seats of Bihar going to vote in the fifth phase of polling on May 20, according to self-sworn affidavits of candidates submitted to the Election Commission of India and analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the Bihar Election Watch (BEW).

Ajay Nishad, the Congress candidate from Muzaffarpur, ranks second with assets worth of ₹29 crore, followed by his rival Dr Raj Bhushan Choudhary of BJP, with total assets of ₹16 crore, according to a report released by the ADR and BEW on Sunday.

Nishad, a two-time MP from Muzaffarpur, had won the 2014 and 2019 LS polls on BJP symbol. His father Jai Narain Prasad Nishad was a five-time MP and a union minister.

Rohini has immovable assets of ₹25.76 crore and movable assets of ₹10.85 crore. She also has liabilities of ₹1 crore, while Dr Choudhary has liabilities of ₹5 crore.

With a total income of ₹6.77 crore, including that of her spouse, Rohini also tops the list of candidates with high income as declared in income-tax return (ITR). Rohini has shown the source of her income from rentals and that of her spouse from professional income in her ITR for financial year 2022-23.

Rohini is married to Samresh Singh, a software engineer. The couple lived in Singapore before she decided to take the electoral plunge.

The five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar going to polls on May 20 are Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur.

At ₹11 crore, the four candidates of the RJD had the highest average assets per candidate, followed by ₹10 crore of the three BJP candidates and ₹8 crore of the lone JD(U) candidate.

The average assets of all 45 party candidates is ₹3 crore and that of the 35 independent candidates ₹65 lakh.

Of the total 80 candidates, 13 face serious criminal cases wherein the maximum punishment is of five years or more in jail, while 15 others face criminal cases.

Three candidates had declared cases related to crime against women. Of them, one faces rape charges, according to the report.

Five candidates face charges related to attempt to murder.

One of the three candidates of BJP and one of the four candidates of RJD have criminal cases against them. The lone candidates from the Janata Dal (United) in Sitamarhi and the Congress in Muzaffarpur also face criminal cases. Besides, five of the 35 Independent candidates also face criminal cases.

Eight of the 80 candidates are graduate professionals, which includes doctors, engineers, lawyers and those holding bachelors of education (B.Ed) degree, while 14 are postgraduates. Three have doctorate degrees. Six candidates have declared themselves to be “literate”, two each are class 5 and class 8 pass, nine are class 10 pass, 15 are class 12 pass and 17 are graduates, as per the report.