At the top of the rich list in West Bengal is TMC’s Jangipur candidate Jakir Hossain, with declared assets of about Rs 133 crore, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and West Bengal Election Watch.
From ‘zero-asset’ to having just about Rs 500 to billionaires — such as AIADMK’s Lalgudi candidate Leema Rose Martin with declared assets of over Rs 5,868 crore — Thursday’s elections will seal the fate of around 4,023 candidates from different political parties and economic background in 234 Tamil Nadu constituencies and 1,478 candidates in Phase-I elections in West Bengal on 152 seats.
At the top of the rich list in West Bengal is TMC’s Jangipur candidate Jakir Hossain, with declared assets of about Rs 133 crore, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and West Bengal Election Watch. Meanwhile, Rubiya Begam in Durgapur Purba from the Aam Janata Unnayan Party has just around Rs 500 in her account.
While the average assets per candidate in West Bengal stand at Rs 1.34 crore, of the 1,475 candidates analysed by ADR, 309 (21%) are crorepatis. In comparison, the average assets per candidate in Tamil Nadu are Rs 5.17 crore; the combined net worth of the top three is around Rs 7,000 crore. In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the average assets per candidate were Rs 1.72 crore, says the ADR.
In absolute terms, Leema Rose Martin, wife of lottery baron Santiago Martin, is the wealthiest candidate in Tamil Nadu, and possibly across all four states and one Union Territory polling this 2026 season. In the neighbouring Puducherry, which voted a few days earlier, Martin’s son Jose Charles Martin, founder of the Latchiya Jananayaga Katchi (LJK), had declared net assets of Rs 597 crore, making him the richest candidate in the Union Territory.
In Tamil Nadu, Leema Rose Martin is followed by actor-turned-politician Joseph Vijay of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), contesting from Chennai Perambur and Tiruchirappalli (East), with assets exceeding Rs 648 crore. He is followed by Aadhav Arjuna, contesting from Chennai’s Villivakkam constituency, with declared assets above Rs 534 crore.
Among Tamil Nadu candidates with assets exceeding Rs 100 crore are two (7%) of 28 Congress candidates analysed by ADR, seven (4%) of 175 from the DMK, three (2%) of 170 from the AIADMK, one (6%) of 18 from the Pattali Makkal Katchi, one (9%) of 11 from the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, and eight (3%) of 231 from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, says ADR
Money power remains a common feature of elections across India, but states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Karnataka seem to lead the trend. While a key factor is the rising cost of elections, which pushes parties to select candidates who can finance their campaigns and help others as well, economic development and strong business sectors also produce more affluent political aspirants, and parties, too, view wealthy candidates as resourceful and influential, say sources
In the South specifically, a factor is the close link between politics and sectors such as real estate, construction, transport and cinema. Several candidates come from these sectors—where wealth accumulation is already high and political entry is often seen as a way to expand influence or protect business interests. Strong family-based political networks and entrenched local leadership structures further ease the entry of affluent candidates, but this holds true everywhere.
Observers say that regional parties, in particular, tend to prefer candidates who can fund their own campaigns, creating an informal bias towards wealthier contenders, especially in closely contested constituencies, And as ADR notes, “the role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates,” underscoring a trend that cuts across ideological lines and reinforces the dominance of high-net-worth individuals in the electoral landscape.