As always, Bangalore South constituency is garnering much curiosity because of the interesting candidates contesting the elections. While the constituency hosts the richest candidate in India, it also has the sitting Member of Parliament who claims to be poorer than his wife. It also has the lone woman candidate for entire Bangalore.

The constituency started hitting national headlines when the bigwigs like IT czar and back bone of Aadhaar scheme Nandan Nilekani and five-time MP Ananth Kumar were pitted against each other. And never to forget the dark horse in this fray, child rights activist Nina P Nayak. All the three have already filed nominations, and have made their assets public.

Fortune facts

Nandan Nilekani: Though a new entrant in politics, the tech tycoon Nandan Nilekani’s affidavit is an attention grabber. When he made his asset public a day before filing the nomination Nilekani became the richest candidate in this general election. Nilekani and wife Rohini Nilekani together have declared their asset worth 7710 crores without any liability.

Majority of his assets i.e, more than 80%, is in the form Infosys shares. He still holds 1.45% shares in Infosys, while his wife has 1.3% shares in the same company. While it is evident that majority of the politicians shy away from declaring the real value of their assets and hold many of their assets in fake names or benami accounts, the declaration of fortune by Nilekani is really noteworthy.

Interesting facts

• The billionaire has his roots deep. He still has 1/12 share in the ancestral agricultural property measuring 405 and 128 guntas in a village near Sirsi, which adds up to 127 lakhs
• Couple known for their philanthropic works have donated nearly 400 crores since 1999 for various causes.
• Nilekani and his wife have paid excess income tax. Nandan and Rohini are having large IT refund dues, which adds up to Rs 7,30,25,040 and Rs 4,68,16,743 respectively.
• As an exception Nandan has jewelry worth more than what his wife has.
• Couple’s interest in art is clearly evident.  Both own valuable art works and paintings. Rohini has Art works worth Rs 1,28,00,000, while Nandan has Rs 21,50,000 worth art works.  
• Couple has total five cars, worth nearly 1 crore. Rohini has three cars including Volkswagon Passat being the costliest car (32.38 lakhs). The couple doesn’t own any super luxury car like Rolls Royce, Benz or porsche.

H N Ananth kumar: According to the affidavit of the five-time MP BJP candidate Ananth kumar, his wife is almost eight times richer than himself. Anant kumar has asset worth 51.13 lakh whereas his wife Tejaswini has Rs 4.27 crores in her name. The total asset of the family is Rs 4.8 crores. In 2009 elections, declared asset of Ananth kumar was Rs 1,22,06,366. Even during that time his wife was richer than him.

Interesting facts

• Ananth Kumar has no immovable assets except ⅓ share in an inherited ancestral property in Hubli valued at Rs 9,67,800 measuring 2,452 sq ft. All the immovable properties belonging to the family are in Tejaswini’s name including a commercial building in Hubli, non-agricultural plots in Bangalore and agricultural land in Chebbi village.
• His wife Tejaswini has a car loan of Rs 2,91,000.
• Ananth kumar is a social worker while his wife is a social worker and a business woman.
• Tejaswini is indebted to her husband. Ananth kumar has given a loan of Rs 10,00,000 to his wife who is richer than him.
• This veteran MP’s financial status is modest. His income for 2012-13 was Rs 6.76 lakhs and that of his wife was Rs 13.68 lakhs
• His family has total 28 insurance policies, of which seven are in his name and his wife has 19 policies.
• Ananth Kumar owns only Reva Electric car of 2005 model worth just Rs 75,000, while Tejaswini owns three cars worth total Rs 11,50,000

Nina Nayak: The Aam Aadmi Party candidate Nina Nayak is modest when compared to her peers. Nina and her husband Prakash Nayak, a retired central government employee, together have assets worth Rs 3,51,28,117 with Rs 10,00,000 liability. The Couple has most of their movable assets (nearly 1 crore) in the form of shares and mutual funds. Her husband owns a flat at Malleshwaram, which is their current residence, and a house in Yelahanka. Nina has a plot at Jakkur village measuring 1200 sq ft worth Rs 15,00,000.

Interesting facts

• Both have Rs 50,00,000 worth shares in different companies.
• Though her husband is richer than Nina, in 2012-13 her income was 10.4 lakhs whereas Prakash Nayak’s income was 5.3 lakhs.
• Interestingly the couple has total four cars, including two Tata Nanos. Nina owns one Maruti-800, Tata Nano and a Scooter while her husband owns Opel Corsa and a Tata Nano.
• Prakash Nayak has taken a loan of Rs 10,00,000 for his son’s education.

(Note: All the affidavits have been downloaded for analysis, from State Election Commission website ceokarnataka.nic.in from the candidate-search links.)

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