 "Among national parties, Bahujan Samaj Party's candidate owns fewest assets")
The candidate with the lowest declared assets from most national parties owns less than the average Indian household.
Ranjithkumar Baluswamy from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) possesses the fewest assets among candidates contesting in Phases I and II of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections across national parties, according to an analysis of data from tracker Myneta.info and affidavits from the Election Commission of India. Hailing from Tamil Nadu, Baluswamy has declared assets totalling Rs 23,000, all of which are moveable. In contrast, the wealthiest candidate from BSP (Majid Ali from Saharanpur) boasts assets valued at Rs 159 crore.
The total value of assets in the affidavit may differ from the actual sum of values as reported on Myneta.info. The analysis considers the total value provided in the affidavit, unless stated as nil, and focuses on candidates with the lowest assets from each national party.
According to the latest data available in the All India Debt & Investment Survey, 2019, the average assets per rural household were Rs 15.9 lakh, and Rs 27.2 lakh per urban household.
Most of the candidates with the lowest declared assets from each national party have assets lower than the average Indian. The exceptions are Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh from the National People’s Party (NPP) and Rishiraj Kaundinya from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
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Following Baluswamy, Congress candidate Mukesh Dhangar had assets worth Rs 1.3 lakh, Vanlalhmuaka from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had Rs 11 lakh, Travancore Mathew Thomas Isaac had roughly Rs 13.4 lakh, NPP’s Mazel Ampareen Lyngdoh had Rs 2.2 crore, and AAP’s Rishiraj Kaundinya possessed Rs 2.9 crore.
The wealthiest candidate from Congress and BJP has assets worth Rs 716 crore and Rs 278 crore, respectively.
In the 2019 general elections, BSP candidate Dwarka Prasad had the lowest declared assets, at Rs 1,000. Krishna Joyardar from the BJP had the second-lowest assets of Rs 6,200. Next was Gargi Chatterjee from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with Rs 57,140 in assets.