The influence of money power in elections is evident in the preference of major political parties for wealthy candidates. Kerala, often described as India’s most politically conscious state, has, in the 2026 Assembly election, 39% of candidates in the crorepati category--up 12 percentage points from 27% in the 2021 election. According to an analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of 863 candidates out of a total of 883, as many as 221 have declared assets exceeding Rs 1 crore.
Among the wealthiest, the Kerala Congress candidate from Kuttanad constituency Reji Cheriyan (Rs 218 crore), BJP candidate from Neyyatinkara constituency Chenkal Rajasekharan (Rs 116 crore) and BJP state president and candidate from Nemom constituency Rajeev Chandrasekhar (111 crore) topped the list. While the poorest among the party candidates included BSP candidate from Puthuppalli constituency Paul P Chacko (zero assets), BSP candidate from Poonjar constituency Shyna AC (zero assets), and SUCI (C) candidate from Ettumanoor constituency Ashna Thampi (Rs 84).
The analysis, conducted by The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Kerala Election Watch, showed 61 of 85 (72%) candidates from the Indian National Congress (INC), 52 of 93 (56%) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 52 of 77 (68%) from the CPI(M), 21 of 25 (84%) from the IUML, 12 of 24 (50%) from the CPI, 11 of 12 (92%) from Kerala Congress (M), all 8 (100%) from Kerala Congress, 2 of 3 (67%) from the NCP (SP), and one each (100%) from Kerala Congress (B) and Kerala Congress (Jacob) are crorepaties.
The total assets of 863 analysed candidates are Rs. 2,403 crore. The average assets per candidate contesting in the state assembly elections 2026 is Rs 2.78 crore. In 2021, the average assets per candidate for 928 candidates was Rs. 1.69 crore. So there is significant (64.5%) rise in the average assets per candidate in 2026 election.
Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 93 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 5.70 crore, 85 INC candidates analysed is Rs 3.93 crore, 77 CPI(M) candidates have average assets of Rs 2.32 crore, 25 IUML candidates have average assets of Rs 6.64 crore, 24 CPI candidates have average assets of Rs 1.60 crore, 12 Kerala Congress (M) candidates have average assets of Rs 10.44 crore, 8 Kerala Congress candidates have average assets of Rs 39.64 crore and 3 NCP(SP) candidates have average assets worth Rs 3.14 crore.
The analysis report by The ADR-Kerala Election Watch also includes assets comparison of re-contesting MLAs in the 2026 election.
The number of re-contesting MLAs analysed in the Kerala assembly elections of 2026 is 104.
The average assets of these 104 re-contesting MLAs fielded by various parties including independents in 2021 was Rs 3.56 crore. The average asset of these re-contesting MLAs in 2026 was Rs 4.30 crore. Their average asset growth between the Kerala Assembly elections of 2021 and 2026 was Rs 74.36 lakh. The average percentage growth in assets for these 104 re-contesting MLAs is 21 percent, according to the analysis.
Out of the total 883 contesting candidates in the 140 seat Keralam assembly election 2026, 375 are from National parties, 81 are from State parties, 145 are from registered unrecognized parties and 282 candidates are contesting Independently.