2024 Lok Sabha Elections: Wealthiest Candidate in First Phase has Rs 716 Crore in Assets, Poorest has Rs 320

The disparity in the assets declared by candidates in the running for the recent elections is stark. The Association for Democratic Reforms has analyzed 1,618 out of 1,625 candidates and found that 450, or 28% of them, are crorepatis with assets worth over Rs 1 crore. The richest candidate, Nakul Nath of the Congress, has declared assets worth Rs 716 crore, followed by Ashok Kumar of the AIADMK with Rs 662 crore and Dhevanathan Yadav of the BJP with Rs 304 crore. In contrast, some candidates have declared their assets as zero, while others, like Ponraj K, have reported minimal assets, such as Rs 320.

It’s noteworthy that Nakul Nath, son of former chief minister Kamal Nath, had won the only seat for his party in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram of the Congress, who has a net worth of Rs 96 crore, is the sitting MP for the Sivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu. Mala Rajya Lakshmi Shah of the BJP, who is contesting from Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garhwal, reported assets worth Rs 206 crore, and Majid Ali of the BSP, contesting from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, has declared a net worth of Rs 159 crore. Additionally, the analysis revealed that 10 candidates have declared their assets as zero.

On the other hand, a few independent candidates from Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have reported minimal assets amounting to Rs 500. Overall, this data highlights the significant disparity in the wealth of candidates contesting in the elections.