Many corporate honchos lag behind 'netas' in assets

Indian general elections candidates with corporate background, such as Nandan Nilekani and Meera Sanyal, may rank much above their political rivals on wealth charts, but many others from India Inc who are contesting polls lag behind 'netas' in accumulating assets.

Mr Nilekani, former chief of Infosys, figures among the richest in fray for 16th Lok Sabha elections with declaration of Rs 7,700 crore assets along with his wife; while ex-banker Meera Sanyal also stands taller than her constituency rivals in terms of declared assets of Rs 50 crore.

Similar is the case with Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Power and V Balakrishnan, former director at Infosys, who are wealthier than their respective rival candidates.

However, hotelier Farhan Azmi, Shyama Charan Gupta, who owns 'bidi' business, and Ashfaq Ahmed Madaki, a young entrepreneurial face of AAP, have lesser assets compared to the persons fielded against them, shows an analysis of assets declared in the nomination affidavits of various candidates.

Interestingly, a significant number of candidates with corporate background have been fielded by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is fighting its debut Lok Sabha polls after the stupendous success in Delhi assembly elections late last year.

Mr Azmi, who is contesting from the high-profile Mumbai North-Central parliamentary constituency on Samajwadi Party ticket, own assets to the tune of Rs 65 crore.

However, Poonam Mahajan (BJP candidate), daughter of late Pramod Mahajan, who is also fighting for the same constituency has higher networth than Mr Azmi, while sitting MP Priya Dutt is just Rs one crore short of the hotelier's wealth.

Ms Mahajan has wealth to the tune of Rs 108 crore, while Ms Dutt, who is contesting on Congress ticket, has assets valued at Rs 64 crore.

Shyama Charan Gupta, who is fighting against Congress' Nand Gopal Gupta and AAP's Adarsh Shastri for Allahabad seat, has Rs 40.45 crore.

The net worth of BJP's Shyama Charan Gupta, however, is lesser than rival contestant Nand Gopal Gupta who has fortune of Rs 95 crore.

Mr Madaki, who will fight from Chikkodi (Karnataka), has assets worth Rs 2.35 lakh. His rival contestant Prakash B Hukkeri has fortune valued at Rs 1.77 crore, Ramesh V Katti has a net worth of Rs 2.83 crore.

Mr Nilekani, who co-founded IT firm Infosys with Narayana Murthy and left it to head the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is the wealthiest candidate so far in the entire election arena. He and his wife have assets worth Rs 7,700 crore

Mr Nilekani is the Congress nominee from Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka. The other two contestants, Ananth Kumar (BJP candidate), has assets worth Rs 1.22 crore, while Aam Aadmi Party's nominee Nina P Nayak's wealth is valued at Rs 3.5 crore.

Banker-turned-politician Ms Sanyal, who is trying her luck on a AAP ticket from Mumbai South, has wealth worth over Rs 50 crore. The other two contestants -- Milind Deora (Congress) and Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) from the same seat have wealth valued Rs 43 crore and Rs 1.1 crore, respectively.

Mr Balakrishnan, who left Infosys last year, is contesting on an AAP ticket from Bangalore Central. He has assets valued at Rs 190 crore.

Bangalore Central constituency sitting MP P C Mohan (BJP) has assets valued at Rs 30.46 crore while another contestant, Rizwan Arshad (Congress), has a net worth of Rs 3.2 crore.

Mr Jindal, who is a sitting Member of Parliament from Haryana's Kurukshetra, has movable and immovable assets worth nearly Rs 300 crore. Jindal is once again contesting on Congress ticket.

Rajkumar Saini (BJP) and Balwinder Kaur (AAP) -- also in fray for Kurukshetra constituency -- have assets worth Rs 13.28 crore and Rs 1.78 crore, respectively.

Anil Sharma, chairman cum managing director of the Amrapali Group of Companies, is fighting Lok Sabha elections on a JD(U) ticket from Jehanabad (Bihar). His assets are pegged at Rs 815 crore. Affidavits of candidates from other parties could not be assessed and therefore cannot be compared.

Lok Sabha elections, which began on April 7, would continue till May 12. The fate of these candidates would be announced on May 16.