Hyderabad: Elections in India, whether it is for the state assembly or Parliament have become very expensive affair, which only richie-rich can afford. This is reconfirmed if you look at the declaration of assets by the candidates entering the fray in Andhra Pradesh.

Among the top leaders YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the president of YSR Congress was the richest with declared assets of Rs3.74 billion (Dh202 million). On the other hand his rival, present Chief Minister and Telugu Desam president N Chandrababu Naidu has assets only to the tune of Rs200 million. But his wife Bhuvaneshwari, a businesswoman and head of Heritage group was richer than even YS Jagan with assets of Rs6.48 billion. Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh was not also far behind Jagan with assets of Rs3.2 billion.

These assets were declared in the affidavit filed along with the nomination papers by the leaders.

Film star turned politician Pawan Kalyan, founder president of Jana Sena Party has declared assets of Rs520 million including movable properties worth Rs120 million and immovable properties worth Rs440 million. He owns a fleet of five luxury cars including Mercedes Benz R Class and Volvo XC90. He also has liabilities of Rs330 million.

Jagan’s assets include movable assets of Rs3.4 billion, and immovable assets of Rs353 million. His wife Bharati also has immovable assets of Rs315 million. Most of Jagan’s assets were in form of investments in several companies including Bharati Cement, Sandur Power, Saraswati Power and Industries, Silicon Builders, Carmel Asia Investments.

Nara Lokesh’s assets include investments in family owned company Heritage Foods, Megabid Finance Investment, Heritage Finance and Nirvana Holdings.

While Jagan declared 31 criminal cases filed against him, Lokesh said there was no case against him.

Chandrababu Naidu’s main asset was his home in Jubilee Hills area of Hyderabad with estimated value of Rs79.9 million. He put the value of his old ambassador car at Rs222,000 and claimed he had cash of Rs18,400 in his hands. The Chief Minister also declared Rs52.4 million liabilities.

Naidu’s wife Bhuvaneshwari declared that of her total assets RS 5.45 billion was in the form of investment in Heritage Food company. She put her liabilities at Rs100 million.

Interestingly TDP’s candidate from Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha constituency has declared assets of Rs2 billion. He is the son-in-law of actor N Balakrishna.