Lok Sabha polls: Only 5 super rich candidates taste victory, richest one loses deposit

NEW DELHI: It was a mixed outing for super rich candidates as five of them emerged victorious and an equal number suffered defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

However, the country's richest candidate Ramesh Kumar Sharma, who fought independently from Bihar, lost his deposit, according to Election Commission data.

Among 10 top richest contestants in the country, three were from Andhra Pradesh, two each from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, and one each from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana.

Prominent winners include Congress' Nakul Nath, son of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath, while Jyotiraditya Scindia was among big losers, as per the EC data.

The country's richest candidate Ramesh Kumar Sharma, who fought as an independent from Patliputra parliamentary seat in Bihar, lost his deposit as he secured only 1,556 votes. Sharma had declared a net asset of Rs 1,107 crore in his nomination papers.

Congress' Uday Singh, the country's seventh richest candidate, lost with a huge margin of 2,63,461 votes from Purnia parliamentary seat in Bihar. He had a declared net asset of Rs 341 crore.

Among other losers, Congress' Konda Vishweshwar Reddy gave a tough fight for re-election from Chevella Lok Sabha constituency in Telangana, but lost to Telangana Rashtra Samithi's (TRS) candidate G Ranjith Reddy by a margin of 14,317 votes.

Vishweshwar, son-in-law of the Apollo Group chairman C Pratap Reddy, was the country's second richest candidate with total asset of over Rs 895 crore. He switched over to Congress from TRS in last December.

Another Congress candidate who lost terribly was Jyotiraditya Scindia, who was also the party election in charge for western Uttar Pradesh.

Scindia, the country's fifth richest candidate with a net asset of Rs 374 crore, lost by a huge margin of 1,25,549 votes from Guna parliamentary seat to his rival BJP candidate Krishna Pal Singh.

Industrialist Prasad Veera Potluri who contested on a YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) ticket lost by 8,726 votes from Vijayawada parliamentary constituency in Andhra Pradesh to his rival Telugu Desam Party (TDP) candidate Kerineni Srinivas.

Poluri, the country's sixth richest candidate with a net asset of Rs 347 crore, joined YSRCP this year. He is also the owner of the Hyderabad Hotshots, one of the six franchises of Indian Badminton League.

Among winners, Congress' Nakul Nath — the country's third richest candidate with a declared net asset of over Rs 660 crore — won by 37,536 votes from Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh.

Another from Congress Vasanthakumar H, the country's fourth richest candidate with a net asset of Rs 417 crore, won by a huge margin of 2,59,933 votes. He defeated BJP's Pon RadhaKrishan, who is minister of state for finance and shipping at the Centre.

Congress' D K Suresh also won with a huge margin of 2,06,870 votes from Bengaluru rural in Karnataka. Suresh had declared a net asset of Rs 338 crore and was the country's eighth wealthiest contestant in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Andhra Pradesh' two richest candidates Kanumuru Raghurama Krishna Raja and Jayadeva Galla have won the parliamentary election this time.

Raja, an industrialist from West Godavari district is the country's ninth richest contestant, and won by a margin of 31,909 votes from Nasapuram seat in the state. He has declared a net asset of Rs 325 crore.

Raja remained in the BJP till 2018. Last year, he joined the TDP but switched over to YSRCP this year.

Galla, an industrialist and owner of Amara Raja Batteries, gave tough fight for re-election from the Guntur parliamentary constituency. He won by 4,205 votes.

He was the country's tenth wealthiest candidate in the polls with a declared net asset of over Rs 305 crore.