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

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.

The self-worn affidavits of all 375 candidates for the Meghalaya Assembly elections in 2023 were recently examined by ADR. Out of the 375 candidates that were looked at, 233 came from national parties, 69 came from state parties, 29 came from registered unrecognized parties, and 44 came from themselves.

The report stated that approximately 10% of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

With 43 of the 60 candidates running for office being crorepatis, the National People's Party (NPP) came out on top.

The NPP leads in average assets with Rs 10.68 crore, with Rs 5.91 crore worth of assets per candidate in the Assembly elections.

56 BJP candidates have assets worth Rs 2.71 crore on average, while Congress candidates have assets worth Rs 4.43 crore and AITC candidates have assets worth Rs 4.95 crore.

In their affidavits, 5 out of 60 Congress candidates, 6 out of 57 NPP candidates, 1 out of 60 BJP candidates, and 3 out of 56 AITC candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

Four Congress candidates, four NPP candidates, one BJP candidate, and two AITC candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

At the Central and State election levels, political parties must post detailed information about candidates with pending criminal cases on their websites, including the nature of the offenses, relevant details like whether charges have been framed, the court involved, the case number, and so on.

Also read : Meghalaya: 6 NPP, 5 Congress candidates out of 21 with criminal background files nomination, says ADR report