Stocks of smallcap and midcap companies, which had caught the fancy of retail investors, also feature in the portfolio of leading politicians in addition to bluechip stocks.
Rahul Gandhi disclosed investments in several smaller companies in addition to mutual funds that invest in the space.
Similarly, Rajeev Chandrasekhar shows investments into a scheme that puts money in the midcap space.
Nitin Gadkari, who has also filed an election affidavit for the upcoming general elections, shows minimal exposure to equities.
Since the nomination process for the 2024 general elections is still ongoing, not all candidates have filed their affidavits that include the candidate's criminal record; ongoing/pending criminal trials; total assets of the candidate, spouse and dependants; total investments; dues pending to the government; and other details.
The major holdings of Rahul Gandhi, who is fighting from Kerala's Wayanad constituency, include Pidilite Industries, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India and Asian Paints.
The investments range from Rs 30 lakhs to Rs 45 lakhs (Rs 3 million to Rs 4.5 million). The Congress leader has investments in 24 companies and the total value of his stock portfolio is Rs 4.3 crore (Rs 43 million).
In addition, he has invested in multiple mutual funds with a total value of Rs 3.8 crore (Rs 38 million). He also has exposure to gold through sovereign gold bonds worth over Rs 15 lakh (Rs 1.5 million). The total value of all these holdings is over Rs 8.3 crore (Rs 83 million).
Rajeev Chandrasekhar's election affidavit shows that he had a multibagger in the form of TISCO.
The Union minister of state for electronics and information technology invested Rs 18,322 in the company and the investment is now worth over Rs 2 lakh.
This is a ten-bagger in market parlance, which means a stock that has gone up 10 times since it was bought. The bulk of his investments are in mutual funds or debt securities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for 2024 polls from Thiruvananthapuram also owns a midcap fund worth nearly Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million).
He also invested crores in tax-free bonds including HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) and IRFC (Indian Railway Finance Corporation). The total value of these and similar investments is over Rs 45 crore (Rs 450 millipn).
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 in Purti Power and Sugar. Shares in cooperative societies are worth Rs 2 lakh (Rs 200,000) 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 (Rs 203 million), by Rajeev Chandrasekhar was Rs 23.6 crores (Rs 236 million) and by Nitin Gadkari was Rs 6.3 crores (Rs 63 million).
Of the key Congress and BJP MPs that contested the previous general elections, as many as eight had declared zero investments.
These include the current Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Kiren Rijiju, the incumbent minister of earth sciences and food processing industries. Other prominent names include 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.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff.com
