Money power is one of the critical challenges in every election in India and when it comes to Lok Sabha polls, it is even bigger. In the last three Lok Sabha elections, held between 2009 and 2019, one in every four candidates had assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
The data from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch, analysed by News18, shows that a total of 5,763 candidates in the last three Lok Sabha polls were crorepatis of the total 23,943 candidates.
In the last three Lok Sabha elections, the number of crorepati candidates has gone up — 1,249 in 2009 to 2,297 in 2019.
In the last three Lok Sabha polls, the richest candidate in the fray was Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, with declared assets worth over Rs 7,700 crore. He contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Bangalore South as a Congress candidate.
The 2024 Elections
This time, in the first two phases, a total of 2,823 candidates are in the fray and 840 among these are crorepatis — three in every 10 candidates have assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
So far, of the candidates who have filed their nomination, including those from phase three, the richest is a joint candidate of NDA from the Telugu Desam Party fighting from Guntur — Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar — who is making his election debut. The TDP-JSP-BJP alliance candidate from Chandrababu Naidu’s party has declared family assets worth nearly Rs 5,785 crore.
As per his poll affidavit, Sekhar, a doctor, has individual assets worth Rs 2,448.72 crore while his wife’s assets are worth Rs 2,343.78 crore and their children have close to Rs 1,000 crore.
His final positioning among the candidates in terms of assets can only be decoded after nomination filing is done for all the seven phases.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 19 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4.
RICH CANDIDATES GETTING RICHER
In this election, the second-richest name so far is BJP’s Chevella candidate in Telangana — Konda Vishweshwar Reddy — with assets worth Rs 4,568 crore.
In 2014, he was a candidate from the same seat from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party. Back then, the worth of his assets were Rs 528.62 crore — sixth-richest. In 2019, he was a Congress candidate with assets worth Rs 895 crore — second-richest. In the last 10 years, he has gotten richer by about nine times.
BEING RICH NO GUARANTEE OF WINNING
An independent candidate, Ramesh Kumar Sharma, was the richest candidate in 2019 with declared assets worth Rs 1,107 crore. He fought the polls from Patliputra constituency in Bihar and managed to get just about 1,550 votes, ending up losing the deposit.
Reddy, the second-richest candidate in 2019, also lost the elections.
In 2014, the richest candidate was Infosys co-founder Nilekani, with declared assets worth over Rs 7,700 crore. Contesting as a Congress candidate from Bangalore South, he lost the polls. That year, the second-richest candidate was Shamali Das, who fought as an independent from Kolkata South and Jadavpur constituencies. She had declared assets worth Rs 1,977 crore. She too failed to reach the House.
In 2009, the richest candidate was J Mohanraj, with declared assets worth Rs 1,977 crore. A candidate of unrecognised Jebamani Janata Party, he lost the polls from South Chennai.
The second-richest candidate in 2009 was Congress leader VM Singh with declared assets worth Rs 632 crore. A candidate from Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit, Singh lost the polls that year.
RICH CANDIDATES HAVE BETTER CHANCE OF WINNING
While it is true that being rich is not a guarantee for victory, the numbers show that it does improve the chance of winning. For every 10 Lok Sabha members elected between 2004 and 2019, about seven have been crorepatis.
In 2019, the chance of winning for a crorepati candidate was 21 per cent and for those with assets less than Rs 1 crore was just one per cent, as per ADR. The numbers from 2014 show that the chances of winning for a crorepati candidate were 20 per cent and for a candidate with low assets was just two per cent.
In 2009, 33 per cent of the candidates who declared assets of Rs 5 crore and above won. On the other hand, less than one per cent candidates with assets less than 10 lakh won.
The number of crorepatis making it to the Lok Sabha is also constantly increasing — from 156 in 2004 to 315 in 2009 and 443 in 2014. In 2019, a total of 475 MPs had declared assets worth Rs 1 crore.
Also, as per ADR, the average asset of a MP in 2004 was Rs 1.86 crore that increased to Rs 4.56 crore in 2009. In 2014, it was Rs 14.70 crore, which increased to Rs 20.93 crore in 2019.
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