Jamshedpur, April 6: The returning officer-cum-deputy commissioner of East Singhbhum, Rabindra Kumar Agarwal, today rejected nomination papers of six candidates from Jamshedpur, leaving 26 in the poll fray.

While Jamshedpur topped the rejection list, Ranchi and Dhanbad lost four candidates each. In Godda and Rajmahal, nomination papers of six Independents were rejected. Two were dropped in Giridih and one each in Singhbhum and Dumka. With a total of 24 candidates being shown the door, 92 remain in the fray for the second phase of Lok Sabha election in the state.

In Jamshedpur, the nomination papers of Samta party candidate Rooplata and other Independents — Geeta Devi, Samshul Haq Khan, Mukesh Thakur, Mudrika Tiwary and Raj Mangal Sah — were declared invalid. Candidates left in the fray can withdraw nominations by April 8.

Agitated over rejection of her nomination papers during scrutiny today, Samta party candidate Rooplata reached Circuit House late in the evening and gave a written complaint to the chief election observer, S.K. Dev Verman.

“I have written to the Election Commission. My nomination was rejected because of a small mistake in my residential address,” said Rooplata. The observer said the complaint would be forwarded to the Election Commission.

There are 1,626 polling booths in the Jamshedpur parliamentary constituency. This year’s general election would witness participation of several rich candidates in Jamshedpur and Singhbhum.

According to the affidavits of candidates filed during filing of nominations, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) contestant for Jamshedpur seat, Arvind Singh, is the richest candidate. Former chief ministers Madu Koda (Independent candidate from Singhbhum) and Arjun Munda (BJP candidate from Jamshedpur) follow, with assets of above Rs 1 crore. They are closely followed by All Jharkhand Students’ Union (Ajsu) candidate Shailendra Mahto contesting from Jamshedpur.

Arvind Singh and his wife possess movable and immovable assets of around Rs 2 crore. According to the affidavit, Singh’s wife has investments of Rs 1.6 crore and he has a plot in Ranchi of Rs 22 lakh.

Leading the pack at Chaibasa, is Madhu Koda with assets of Rs 1.28 crore. The former chief minister has investments of Rs 14.61 lakh in the bank while his wife Geeta Koda has a fixed deposit of Rs 7.25 lakh in Grameen Bank’s Chaibasa branch. Koda also has land at Jagannathpur and Chaibasa worth Rs 2.77 lakh. His wife owes a diamond set worth Rs 14 lakh and has invested around Rs 19 lakh in gold jewellery.

Not too far behind is another former chief minister, Arjun Munda, who has shown movable and immovable assets of Rs 1.23 crore.

According to his affidavit, he has movable assets worth Rs 1.10 crore while his immovable assets amount to Rs 13.36 lakh. He also has financial liabilities in public finance institutions and government dues that are worth Rs 1.76 lakh.

Ajsu candidate from Jamshedpur Shailendra Mahto has movable and immovable assets of Rs 84 lakh. A former MP from Jamshedpur, Mahto has agriculture land at Deoghar, Ghatshila, Patamda, worth Rs 18.5 lakh. He has two flats — one each at Ranchi and New Delhi, which are worth Rs 32 lakh.