Six 'super-rich' candidates in TN poll fray

Chennai, Apr 7: Six 'super-rich'

, each having assets worth over Rs 50 crore, are in the fray in the Lok Sabha polls in

, with

nominee and businessman H Vasanthakumar topping the list at over Rs 283 crore.

The assets declaration of the 1,318 candidates who have filed nominations for the April 24 polls reveal interesting details as many of them are crorepatis though there are also aspirants like CPI-M's G Anandan who has a meagre 1.92 lakh.

Vasanthakumar, owner of the popular Vasanth & Co, a retail chain of consumer durables in the state and a former MLA, has movable assets worth Rs 98.63 crore and immovable assets Rs 184.50 crore. He is contesting from Kanyakumari constituency.

AC Shanmugam, President of the Pudhiya Needhi Katchi, an ally of BJP contesting from Vellore on the Saffron party's lotus symbol, comes next in the super-rich category. Heading several higher education institutions, he has assets worth Rs 106.10 crore.

DMK leader and former Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, S Jagathrakshakan owns assets to the tune of Rs 78.04 crore.

Among other businesses, his family runs a medical college and several engineering colleges in Chennai. A sitting Lok Sabha member from Arakonam, he is contesting from Sriperumbudur constituency in this elections.

Next comes T R Pachamuthu, also founder of educational institutions, who owns assets worth Rs.77.69 crore.

Heading the Indhiya Jananayaka Katchi (IJK), an ally of the BJP, he is contesting from Perambalur. He owns SRM group of educational institutions.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti P Chidambaram, making his electoral debut from Sivaganga, has assets to the tune of Rs 59.66 crore.

PTI