 "93% of newly elected Lok Sabha MPs are crorepatis. Meet the richest")
The Lok Sabha is filled with crorepatis.
According to the poll rights body Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), 504 of 543 winning candidates are crorepatis.
In all, 93 per cent of candidates elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024 are crorepatis.
That figure was 88 per cent in 2019 with 475 winning candidates being crorepatis.
As per Business Standard, the richest candidate that year was Ramesh Kumar Sharma who had assets worth 1,108 crore.
In 2014, 443 (82 per cent) candidates were crorepatis.
Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani was the richest candidate that year with assets worth Rs 7,710 crore.
The data shows a steady climb since 2009 when just 315 (58 per cent) MPs were crorepatis.
But who are the wealthiest of them in 2024?
Let’s take a closer look:
The three wealthiest candidates elected to the Lok Sabha this time are TDP’s Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, and Konda Vishweshwar Reddy and Naveen Jindal from the BJP.
TDP’s Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani
Pemmasani is the wealthiest MP in the Lok Sabha.
was the TDP candidate from Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur constituency.
He has assets valued at Rs 5,705 crore.
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More ShortsAccording to Mint, his movable assets worth Rs5,598 crore, while his immovable assets are worth Rs106 crore.
According to Economic Times, Pemmasani is the founder and CEO of online learning platform UWorld.
Pemmasani in 2020 won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
He finished his MBBS from the Dr NTR University of Health Sciences in 1999 before getting an MD in internal medicine from the Geisinger Medical Centre in Pennsylvania in 2005.
He owns two Mercedes, one Tesla, and a Rolls Royce.
Asked about his wealth, Pemmasani told NDTV, “Unfortunately, these days, politics has become an expensive process.”
“Not that is that is the change. Actually, we all need to discuss about it, right? Not common people cannot contest in any of these elections.”
BJP’s Konda Vishweshwar Reddy
Reddy is the second wealthiest candidate to be elected to the Lok Sabha.
Reddy contested from the Chevella seat in Telangana.
His assets are valued at Rs 4,568 crore.
According to The Hindu, Reddy is an engineer by training and an IT entrepreneur.
Reddy completed Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from University of Madras and did his MS in the USA.
Vishweshwar Reddy had declared family assets worth Rs 4,568 crore, according to an affidavit he had filed with the election authorities.
Reddy holds 17.77 lakh shares of Apollo Hospital Enterprises Ltd worth Rs 973.22 crore at Rs 6,170 apiece while his wife Sangita Reddy has 24.32 lakh shares worth Rs 1500.85 crore.
Sangita Reddy is joint managing director of Apollo Hospitals Group founded by her father Dr C Prathap Reddy.
According to EPIC.uchicago.in, Reddy is the only Parliamentarian from India to be granted a US patent while serving as a Member of Parliament.
Reddy secured 8,09,882 votes, while his nearest rival G Ranjit Reddy of the Congress got 6,36,985 votes.
Reddy began started his political career with BRS (then TRS) and became an MP from Chevella.
He quit the party and joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the 2019 general elections.
He then joined the BJP.
BJP’s Naveen Jindal
Industrialist Naveen Jindal is the third wealthiest candidate elected to the Lok Sabha.
Jindal, 54, won from Haryana’s Kurukshetra Lok Sabha seat.
He declared assets worth Rs 1,241 crore.
Jindal is the chairman of Jindal Steel and Power Limited.
His mother Savitri Jindal is the chairperson of the OP Jindal Group.
With a net worth of $35.5 billion, she is also India’s richest woman
Jindal defeated the AAP’s Sushil Gupta by 29,021 votes.
Jindal joined the BJP in March.
He said he wants to contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agenda of ‘Viksit Bharat’.
Jindal quit the Congress after being with the party for two decades.
As per Hindustan Times, Jindal jumped into the electoral fray in Kurukshetra on a Congress ticket in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.
Jindal won easily and kept the seat in 2009 as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came back to power.
But in 2014, when the Modi wave was in full effect, Jindal was unseated by Raj Kumar Saini.
Crorepatis galore
According to the analysis, 227 (95 per cent) of the BJP’s 240 winning candidates, 92 (93 per cent) of the Congress’ 99, 21 (95 per cent) of the DMK’s 22, 27 (93 per cent) of the TMC’s 29 and 34 (92 per cent) of the Samajwadi Party’s 37 candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
All winning candidates of the AAP (3), the JDU (12) and the TDP (16) are crorepatis, ADR data showed.
The analysis also delves into candidates’ chances of winning based on their financial backgrounds.
It found that the probability of a millionaire candidate clinching victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections stood at 19.6 per cent, compared to a meagre 0.7 per cent for candidates with assets less than a crore.
The analysis also provides a breakdown of wealth distribution among the winning candidates.
The data showed that 42 per cent of the candidates possess assets totalling Rs 10 crore and above.
While 19 per cent of the candidates fall within the bracket of Rs 5 to 10 crore, 32 per cent hold assets ranging between Rs 1 and 5 crore.
Only about 1 per cent of the winning candidates have assets worth less than Rs 20 lakh.
Among major parties, the average assets per winning candidate vary significantly.
The TDP leads with an average of Rs 442.26 crore per winner, followed by the BJP with Rs 50.04 crore, the DMK with Rs 31.22 crore, the Congress with Rs 22.93 crore, TMC with Rs 17.98 crore and SP with Rs 15.24 crore.
The analysis also highlights disparities within the financial profiles of winning candidates. While some boast of substantial assets, others have relatively low worth.
For instance, BJP’s Jyotirmay Singh Mahato from West Bengal’s Purulia has declared assets totalling a mere Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, TMC’s Mitali Bag from West Bengal’s Arambag holds assets worth Rs 7 lakh.
Assets of SP’s Priya Saroj from Uttar Pradesh’s Machhlishahr are valued at Rs 11 lakh.
The analysis also identifies candidates with high liabilities.
TDP’s Pemmasani tops the list with liabilities exceeding Rs 1,038 crore.
DMK’s S Jagathratchakan from Tamil Nadu’s Arakkonam has liabilities worth Rs 649 crore and TDP’s Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy from Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore has liabilities worth Rs 197 crore.
With inputs from agencies
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