Ludhiana nominee is 2nd poorest among 904 in seven states, UT

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, May 24

He may not be as rich as others in the fray but he is fighting the Lok Sabha (LS) elections from Ludhiana despite possessing just Rs 2,500.

Rajiv Kumar Mehra of the lesser known Jan Sewa Driver Party (JSDP) is the second poorest candidate among 904 nominees from 57 Lok Sabha seats across seven states and Chandigarh, for the seventh and last phase of polling on June 1.

Contesting with election symbol “tyres”, Mehra (46) has declared his movable assets worth Rs 2,500 with no immovable assets. His worth is equivalent to that of an Independent candidate, Balaram Mandal, from Jadavpur in West Bengal while another lesser known party Utkal Samaj’s nominee Bhanumati Das from Jagatsinghpur in Odisha is the poorest with declared assets worth Rs 1,500.

Having deposited Rs 25,000 as security for fighting the elections, Mehra is a resident of Maharishi Balmiki Nagar in Ludhiana and is among 43 candidates in fray for the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat.

According to his self-sworn affidavit, his wife Kiran Bala possesses no movable or immovable assets. Of the total Rs 2,500 that he possesses, he has a deposit of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 in his two separate bank accounts while his wife has a bank balance of Rs 1,000.

A driver by profession, Mehra is a Class V pass out while his wife is a housewife.

On being asked his agenda and purpose behind contesting the elections, Mehra said he was fed up with the present system and wants to change it. “Nobody talks or works for the common man,” he quipped while adding that no matter he was a poor man, he had borrowed money to deposit the security and was fighting the elections for public welfare, especially drivers.

Busy in door-to-door campaigning, despite being fully aware that he is not going to win, Mehra, along with his wife and daughter, said the new amendment in law against drivers in road accident cases was the main reason behind his contesting the elections.

“No political party or leader has ever thought or spoken for the welfare of drivers in the country,” he lamented while calling upon all his driver brethren to vote and support him. When asked what he will do if he loses the security deposit that he had borrowed, the confident contestant said: “I have left it to the Almighty. Whatever will happen, I will face the situation accordingly.”

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