Maharashtra election: BJP MLA Parag Shah is wealthiest candidate, assets grew 575% over 5 years

Parag Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Maharashtra’s Ghatkopar East constituency is the richest candidate contesting the state assembly elections on November 20, reported India Today.

With declared assets worth over ₹3,300 crore, Shah’s wealth has seen a whooping 575% increase over the past five years, the report adds. In his election affidavit, the BJP leader has disclosed moveable assets worth ₹3,315.52 crore and immovable assets worth ₹67.53 crore. In 2019 assembly elections, Shah had declared his net assets at ₹550.62 crore.

Shah, the sitting MLA from the seat, was a real estate magnate before joining politics. In 2002, he founded the company named Man Infraconstruction Ltd. He was elected a municipal councillor from Ghatkopar East on a BJP ticket in 2017. In his maiden assembly election debut in 2019, Shah won the seat by a margin of over 53,000 votes.

According to a report by The Times of India, Ghatkopar East has been a BJP stronghold since 1990. The party’s success has been attributed to a large Gujarati-speaking population in areas like the Ninety Feet Road, Tilak Road, Garodia Nagar and Rajawadi. A sizeable number of Marathi speakers, around 1 lakh, are scattered across neighbourhoods like Pant Nagar, Nityanand Nagar, Naidu Nagar and Ramabai Colony, the report adds.

Despite the party’s dominance, issues like illegal encroachments and poor infrastructure have largely remained unchanged.

The BJP leader highlighted the successful rehabilitation of over 18,000 slum dwellers as his achievement over last five years. Shah is expected to face tough competition from NCP (SP) candidate Rakhee Jadhav in the upcoming assembly elections.

Jadhav alleged that the BJP has merely used the people of the constituency with no real development. “This time, we are going to win the seat 100%. We are committed to bringing genuine development and addressing the traffic issues in this ward,” she added.