Meghalaya: Meet Congress’s Arbiangkam Kharsohmat, the poorest candidate with net worth of Rs 9000

The role of money power in elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. While there are many whose assets are worth crores, meet Arbiangkam Kharsohmat, an MLA aspirant contesting for the upcoming Assembly elections on Congress ticket whose net worth is only Rs 9000, as per the ADR report. 

Among the major parties 43 (75 per cent) out of 57 candidates analysed from NPP, 30 ( 65 per cent) out of 46 candidates analysed from UDP, 27 (48 per cent) out of 56 candidates analysed from All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), 25 (42 per cent) out of 60 candidates analysed from INC and 23 (38 per cent) out of 60 candidates analysed from BJP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Meghalaya Assembly elections 2023 is Rs 5.91 crore. In 2018 Meghalaya Assembly elections, average assets per candidate for 370 candidates was Rs 3.54 crore.
Among the major parties, the average asset per candidate for 60 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 2.71 crore, 60 INC candidates analysed is Ra 4.34 crore, 57 NPP candidates analysed is Rs 10.68 crore, 56 AITC candidates analysed is Rs 4.95 crore and 46 UDP candidates have average assets worth Rs 10.50 crore.

Metbah Lyngdoh, a member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), who represents the Mairang constituency in Meghalaya has the most assets, with over Rs146 crore, followed by Vincent.H. Pala and Evalyni Kharbani, who have over Rs125 crore and Rs109 crore, respectively, according to the ADR report.

According to a report from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) working to effect electoral reforms in the country, over 50% of the candidates for the Meghalaya Assembly elections in 2023 are crorepatis, and 6% of the candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Also read : Meghalaya: UDP’s Metbah Lyngdoh richest with assets over Rs 146 crore, says ADR report