The wealth of Mahayuti candidates contesting the Maharashtra Assembly elections this month grew 17 times faster than the wealth of the average Indian citizen between 2019 and 2024, according to a study released on Tuesday.
The Mahayuti alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The three parties are also part of the National Democratic Alliance at the Centre.
The study was conducted by MumbaiVotes.com, which is part of the Informed Voter Project, a non-profit civil society organisation.
The collective analysed the annual growth rate of the wealth of major candidates from both the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi coalitions.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi comprises the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Sharad Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. They are part of the Opposition INDIA bloc at the national level.
In a press release on Tuesday, the Informed Voter Project said that the wealth of Mahayuti candidates grew by approximately 120%, from an average of Rs 21.5 crore in 2019 to Rs 47.1 crore in 2024.
In comparison, the wealth of Maha Vikas Aghadi candidates grew by about 62% in the same time, from an average of Rs 16.4 crore in 2019 to Rs 26.5 crore in 2024.
The median wealth of an average Indian citizen is approximately Rs 3.5 lakh in 2024.
Among the Mahayuti candidates, BJP leaders recorded the sharpest increase in wealth. On average, a BJP candidate’s wealth rose by about 144%, from Rs 26 crore each in 2019 to Rs 64 crore in 2024.
After adjusting for inflation, however, the average increase in BJP candidates’ wealth came to about 77% over five years.
Congress candidates saw the most modest rise in their wealth with an inflation-adjusted jump of 3%, from about Rs 29.7 crore each in 2019 to Rs 30.5 crore in 2024.
Of the top 20 candidates with the highest growth in assets, 14 belong to the Mahayuti coalition and six belong to the Maha Vikas Aghadi.