Before every State election, candidates in India must file a sworn declaration of their assets with the Election Commission. It is a remarkable document, a public, legally binding account of what each person owns. We went through 7,325 of them, from candidates who contested the elections in Assam, Keralam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.

₹289.4 crore. That is how much of the ₹29,032 crore in total disclosed assets sits in India’s regulated capital markets. The rest, 99 per cent of it, is in land, buildings, jewellery, bank deposits, and cash.

Land comes first. Everywhere. Across all five States, real estate accounts for 55-67 per cent of everything disclosed. Keralam still has 67 per cent of its candidates’ disclosed assets sitting in immovable property.

What’s left over tells its own story. Jewellery accounts for 28 per cent of movable assets in Keralam and 35 per cent in Puducherry. Bank deposits dominate in Assam. Just 461 of the 7,325 candidates, fewer than one in sixteen, have disclosed anything at all in a mutual fund, listed equities, ETF, index fund, PMS, REITs, INVITs, or US equities. The other 6,864 have nothing in any of those categories.

Tamil Nadu alone accounts for ₹149.9 crore of the ₹289.4 crore total, more than the other four States combined. Its mutual fund disclosures (₹89.7 crore, 88 candidates) and listed equity disclosures (₹59.4 crore, 108 candidates) both dwarf the numbers from any other state. Tamil Nadu is also the only State where US equities appear at all.

West Bengal and Keralam together add ₹112.1 crore. Assam leans towards mutual funds; Keralam does the opposite, preferring direct equity. Puducherry, with the highest average disclosed assets of the five States, contributes just ₹2.4 crore in public market instruments.

Instrument breakdown

Mutual funds and listed equity dominate across all five States, with 304 candidates disclosing ₹147.2 crore in mutual funds and 240 disclosing ₹134.4 crore in listed shares. Tamil Nadu accounts for the bulk of both. ETFs and index funds have been disclosed by 39 candidates (₹2.3 crore). PMS appears in two Keralam affidavits (₹3.8 crore). REITs and INVITs in two (₹1.6 crore). US equities in four, all Tamil Nadu (₹10.8 lakh). These are not large numbers. The point is that they exist.

The headline numbers aside, four specific disclosures are worth singling out.

Four candidates, all from Tamil Nadu, have declared holdings in US equities, Dr M Sudhakar (TVK, Katpadi), Dr Sathish Christopher (TVK, Radhapuram), Mohammed Safi A (Independent, Panruti), and Vignesh Nandagopal (Independent, Madhuravoyal). Combined value: approximately ₹10.8 lakh. Small in absolute terms; notable in that it exists at all.

Portfolio Management Services, which require a minimum ticket of ₹50 lakh, show up in two filings. Both are from Keralam: Adv. Gireesh Neyyar (BJP, Parassala) and Moses Henry Motha (AAP, Ernakulam), with a combined disclosed value of ₹3.8 crore.

REITs and INVITs appear in two affidavits. Rohit Sing (Guddu) of the (INC, Dabgram-Fulbari), disclosed approximately ₹1.6 crore. Dr Shyam Krishnasamy (PT, Tirunelveli), disclosed approximately ₹20,000.

Krishna Kalyani (AITC, Raiganj) — his affidavit includes ₹1.76 lakh in Bitcoin. In a dataset of 7,343 filings, he is the only person with a crypto wallet.

Party patterns

AITC leads on the share of party assets allocated to public markets at 4.6 per cent, with 40 of its 170 candidates (24 per cent) disclosing ₹43.2 crore. BJP leads on absolute value, 80 of 378 candidates have disclosed ₹52.9 crore. INC, with 384 candidates, shows 16 per cent participation and ₹23.4 crore, just 1 per cent of the party’s total disclosed assets. CPI(M) and DMK both show single-digit participation rates with negligible amounts.

A global comparison

For context, consider the 2024 annual financial disclosures filed by four members of the US Congress, Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, House) disclosed between 53 per cent and 60 per cent of her total assets in public market instruments. Ron Wyden (Democrat, Senate) disclosed between 64 per cent and 73 per cent. Ron Johnson (Republican, Senate), whose entire market portfolio is two index ETFs, disclosed between 27 per cent and 28 per cent. Ted Cruz (Republican, Senate) disclosed between 80 per cent and 87 per cent. The comparable figure for 7,343 Indian election candidates across five States: 0.97 per cent.

A note on interpretation

How candidates label their holdings is their own call. The ECI sets no standard for classifying a holding as a public market instrument. Our categorisation is based on how we read what candidates wrote.

The valuation rules are specific but unverifiable. Listed shares are to be disclosed at current market value; non-listed at book value. Whether candidates actually followed this cannot be confirmed from the data.

The affidavit is not a complete picture. It covers the candidate, spouse, HUF, and named dependants. Holdings routed through other family members or companies the candidate does not directly own are not captured.

Put simply: 461 candidates, ₹289.4 crore, 1 per cent of total disclosed assets. Most of their wealth is in immovable property. India has spent the better part of a decade pulling retail investors into its capital markets. SIP accounts have reached 100 million. The political class has, by and large, watched from the sidelines. These 7,325 affidavits describe a cohort sitting on ₹29,032 crore with a near-zero allocation to anything that requires a demat account. If any wealth manager or financial advisor is looking for an underserved segment, they need look no further than India’s political class. The pitch writes itself: you have zero exposure to the best wealth-creating opportunity in modern India. Help them diversify.

Vaidyanath is the CIO and CEO of NAFA Asset Managers. Jain and Singhvi are Research Analysts

Published on May 5, 2026