What leading politicians invest in: Small, midcap and bluechip stocks | Lok Sabha Elections

The major holdings of Gandhi, who is fighting from Kerala’s Wayanad constituency, include Pidilite Industries, Bajaj Finance, Nestlé India and Asian Paints. The investments range from Rs 30-45 lakhs. The Congress leader has investments in 24 companies and the total value of his stock portfolio is Rs 4.3 crore. In addition, he has invested in multiple mutual funds with a total value of Rs 3.8 crore. He also has exposure to gold through sovereign gold bonds worth over Rs 15 lakh. The total value of all these holdings is over Rs 8.3 crore.

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has also filed his election affidavit but shows limited exposure to the share market. He has investments worth Rs 310 in Purti Power and Sugar. Shares in cooperative societies are worth Rs 2 lakh and a similar amount is allocated under miscellaneous investments. He has not declared any mutual fund holdings.

According to the declarations in their respective affidavits, the total value of the assets (movable including cash in hand at the time of filing the nomination and immovable assets) owned by Rahul Gandhi was Rs 20.3 crores, by Rajeev Chandrasekhar was Rs 23.6 crores and by Nitin Gadkari was Rs 6.3 crores.

Of the key Congress and BJP members of parliament (MP) that contested the previous general elections, as many as eight had declared zero investments. These include the current leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Kiren Rijiju, the incumbent minister of earth sciences and food processing industries. Other prominent names include the first-term BJP MP from Bangalore South Tejaswi Surya, BJP MP from Odisha’s Puri Sambit Patra, BJP MP from North-East Delhi Manoj Tiwari, Begusarai BJP MP Giriraj Singh, and TMC MP from Krishnanagar, West Bengal, Mahua Moitra.