Bharatiya Janata Party's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina's assets have come down from what they were in 2014. Back then, the BJP leader seeking a second term as MLA had declared an asset o ₹20,000 amount as cash in hand and another ₹1,000 in the savings account. Raina has this time declared ₹1,000 cash in hand as his only asset, with no other immovable or movable asset. This makes him the one of the poorest candidates in the Assembly poll fray.
Raina lives at a government accommodation, which was allotted to him as an MLA, in Jammu's Gandhi Nagar. He has declared no savings in the bank, no purchase or inheritance of any moveable or immoveable property, including gold, investments, agricultural or non-agricultural land, and no house or vehicle. He has also declared that he has no liabilities.
Raina's father, a retired school headmaster, and mother live with his younger brother Sunil Raina's family.
His seat, Nowshera, located in Rajouri border district will vote in the second phase on September 25. Raina had won from Nowshera assembly constituency in 2014 with 37,374 votes and he took oath in the name "Mata Vaishno Devi" in the last Assembly. He had defeated Surinder Choudhary, then with the PDP, by a margin of 9,503 votes.
Six candidates contesting the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections have declared zero assets, as per data compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms. Five of these candidates are Independents, including Vishal Kumar (Bishnah), Asif DM (Jammu East), Raj Kumar Lalotra (Jammu West), Shahid Hussain Mir (Handwara), and Zahid Mushtaq Sheikh (Handwara). Sudesh Kumar, the PDP nominee from Kathua, has also declared zero assets.
Jammu and Kashmir elections are being held in three phases. The first phase was held on September 18, while the remaining phases will be held on September 25 and October 1. The counting of votes will be on October 8.