Richest Lok Sabha candidate worth Rs 1,107 crore is employed in private sector, earns Rs 5.81 lakh per annum

Ramesh Kumar Sharma, who has declared Rs 1,107 crore assets in his election affidavit, is the richest candidate contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He is an independent candidate contesting from Patliputra constituency in Bihar. The secret to Sharma's wealth is the appreciation of his agricultural land in Navi Mumbai. Sharma is an engineer by profession and is employed in the private sector. His annual earnings have largely remained modest in the last 5 years. He earned Rs 5.81 lakhs in FY19, Rs 5.93 lakh in FY18, Rs 6.95 lakh in FY17, Rs 4.65 lakh in FY16 and Rs 4.78 lakh in FY15.

Out of his total wealth of Rs 1,107 crore, his movable assets are valued at Rs 7.08 crore and immovable assets are valued at Rs 1,100 crore. Among movable assets, Sharma has reported, cash in hand Rs 55,000, bank balance Rs 14,193 and two fixed deposits of Rs 80,000 each. Sharma has invested in equity shares worth Rs 2.5 crore and a mutual fund with market value of Rs 3.5 crore.

The bulk of Sharma's wealth consists of immovable assets. This includes his 31 acre agricultural land in Navi Mumbai. One would imagine this property to be inherited considering Sharma's meagre annual earnings, but it is not.

In total Sharma owns 36.90 acre agricultural land, out of which only 5.40 acre is inherited while 31.50 acre agricultural land in Navi Mumbai is self-acquired. As per the election affidavit filed with the Election Commission, this land was bought between 1997-2002 for Rs 1.31 crore.

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As per the same affidavit, the value of the land has since then appreciated to Rs 1,050 crore.

Apart from agricultural land, Sharma also owns six commercial properties in Mumbai which were bought for Rs 1.29 crore between the years 1984-2006 and are currently valued at Rs 16 crore. He also owns 3 flats; two of which are in Vashi, Navi Mumbai and one in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. The market price of these three flats adds up to Rs 12.5 crore. Sharma also owns 500 gram gold which as per his affidavit has a market value of Rs 15 lakh. Sharma has declared that there are no pending criminal cases against him.

As per his affidavit, he has no liabilities including loans of any sort in his name. Sharma owns nine vehicles, none of which is an imported luxury car. He owns Volkswagen Jetta, Tata Estate, Honda City, Mahindra Jeep, Toyota Qualis, Tata Safari, Hyundai Ascent and Honda Mobilio and Chevrolet Optra.

Sharma has said he is fighting the elections to remove Narendra Modi from the position of prime minister. "With demonetisation, Modi took money away from people. There is crime happening all around and they are looting the country. I am fighting this election against Modi, the 'jumlebaaz'," he told IANS.

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