Baijayant Panda and (below) Dharanidhar Nayak

Paradip, March 28: High-profile BJD candidate from Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency Baijayant Panda has doubled his movable and immovable assets in the past five years.

This was revealed from the affidavits submitted by the suave and chopper-hopping MP, Panda, with the returning officer.

The prestigious Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, which had returned among others Biju Patnaik, socialist party stalwart S.N. Dwivedi, former Lok Sabha Speaker Rabi Ray and Union minister Srikant Jena in the past, is poised to witness an exciting electoral battle that, by all indications, is going to decide the fate of two crorepati nominees.

The Congress nominee, Dharanidhar Nayak, an eminent criminal lawyer, is also a millionaire.

The BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have fielded Bishnu Das and Md Samim Akhtar from this Lok Sabha seat. Pramod Sahu, a co-operative activist, is also trying his luck from here.

Panda owned over Rs 16 crore assets during the 2009 general elections, while now it has shot up to nearly Rs 31 crore. The BJD nominee owns Rs 20.17 crore movable asset, while his spouse, Jagi Mangat Panda, is in possession of Rs 4.34 crore. Similarly, the couple owned Rs 6.72 crore immovable assets.

The notable feature of the affidavit is that bonds, share investment by Panda has gone up more than the double than the last time. The BJD candidate has Rs 16.96 crore in shares and bonds, while it stood at Rs 5.99 crore in 2009. Similarly, his spouse’s shares and bond investments has gone up from Rs 1.04 crore in 2009 to Rs 2.77 crore in 2014.

Nayak, who is making electoral debut, incidentally does not have a four-wheeler, though the lawyer-cum-politician owns plot at south extension-2, New Delhi. Nayak’s movable and immovable assets are estimated at Rs 3.5 crore.