Lok Sabha Elections 2024: These are the 3 richest candidates in Phase 1 polls

Nakul Nath, Ashok Kumar and Dhevanathan Yadav T are the richest candidates in phase 1 of the much-anticipated Lok Sabha Elections 2024. Nakul Nath, who is the son of senior Congress leader Kamal Nath, is contesting on the INC ticket from the Chhindwara constituency of Madhya Pradesh. His assets, as per the Association for Democratic Reforms’ (ADR) report analysed from the Election Commission data, stood at ₹716 crore.

Ashok Kumar, who's contesting from Tamil Nadu's Erode constituency on AIADMK ticket, has total assets worth ₹662 crore, with movable assets worth ₹573 crore and immovable at ₹88 crore.

The third richest candidate is Dhevanathan Yadav T from the Sivaganga constituency of Tamil Nadu. He is contesting on a BJP ticket. Yadav T has total assets worth ₹304 crore, with movable assets accounting for ₹253 crore and immovable at ₹51.2 crore. The phase 1 of the Lok Sabha elections will be held on April 19.

There are a total of 10 candidates with zero assets in the phase 1. Those with the lowest assets contesting Lok Sabha polls are Ponraj K (independent), with total assets at ₹320, Kartik Gendlalji Doke (independent) with assets at ₹500, and Suriyamuthu (independent) with assets at ₹500.

Dhevanathan Yadav T, who is among the richest candidates fighting phase 1 polls, also features among the top three with the highest liabilities. His total liabilities stand at ₹98 crore. The candidate with the highest liabilities is S Jagathratchakan at ₹649 crore. Dhanorkar Pratibha Suresh Alias Balubhau from Maharashtra's Chandrapur constituency has total liabilities worth ₹55 crore.

The candidate with high income as declared in the ITR is Nabam Tuki (Congress) from Arunachal West constituency, whose total income is worth ₹62 crore in the FY23 financial year. Other candidates, Nakul Nath and DM Kathir Anand's income stood at ₹12 crore and ₹11 crore, respectively, for FY23.

In the party-wise crorepati candidates' list, BJP has the highest crorepatis at 69 out of 77 analysed. INC's crorepati candidate count stands at 49 out of 56 analysed. AIADMK's crorepati count stands at 35 out of 36 individuals analysed.

The state of Tamil Nadi has the highest number of Crorepati candidates at 202, followed by Rajasthan at 37, and Maharashtra at 36.

In terms of education, 639(39%) candidates have declared educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard, while 836(52%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. A total of 77 candidates are diploma holders and 36 have declared themselves to be just literate and 26 candidates are illiterates. 4 candidates have not given their educational qualifications.

In terms of age, 505(31%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 849 (52%) candidates are between 41 to 60 years. There are 260(16%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. There are four candidates, who have declared their age to be above 80 years.