He?s the richest of ?em all with Rs 9,000-crore assets

How much land does a man need? A few bighas, acres or hectares? If you are Nyimthungo Lotha, an Independent candidate for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland, your land has to be in square kilometers.

Owning a few crores in liquid or fixed assets is peanuts for most Northeast politicians. But former agriculture engineer Lotha takes the cake. He has declared in his affidavit that he owns property worth over Rs 9,000 crore.

The declaration makes him the richest Lok Sabha contestant in India. The next wealthiest is the Maharaja of Mysore, Srikantadutta Narasimharaja Wodeyar, whose property is worth 'only' Rs 1,500 crore.

As per his affidavit, Lotha has a 15-sq km estate near Humtso village in Wokha district. The land, he claims, is worth Rs 9,000 crore. Besides, he owns another five hectares of agricultural land worth Rs 5 crore and a house at Humtso worth Rs 4 crore.

The Independent contestant, who worked in the Hyderabad-based ICAR after passing out from Punjab Agriculture University and Mumbai University, claims the Wokha deputy commissioner had assessed the market value of his land.

Wokha DC E. Ezung rejected his claim. "This is rubbish," said Ezung. "The district administration has not been involved in any assessment of land." Officials feel Lotha might have overvalued his property.

The Nagaland chief electoral officer said as per the EC standing instruction, no action can be taken against Lotha if he has furnished wrong information. "We can act only when a complaint is lodged against him," he said.