Through filing the nominations to contest in the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, the star candidates in the state including the top political leaders have been revealing their worth, assets, and liabilities.  The state will be going to the single-phase poll on April 6 and the results will be announced on May 2. 

The process of filing nomination has begun on March 12 and it will end on March 19 and as the process has marked its third day on Tuesday, the candidates have been filing nominations at their respective constituencies, and on Monday, some of the prominent leaders including Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, DMK President MK Stalin, AMMK's TTV Dhinakaran, Naam Tamilar Katchi's Seeman, Kamal Haasan, and BJP's Vanathi Srinivasan have filed their nominations. 

From the nominations filed so far, Kamal Haasan has become the richest candidate in Tamil Nadu as he has declared assets of Rs 177 crore and liabilities of Rs 49.5 crore. While the actor turned politician holds a whopping wealth, Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and DMK President MK Stalin had seen ups and downs in their asset value. Let's take a look at who has more wealth and how much they had in the previous elections. 

Edappadi Palaniswami: According to the affidavit, the Chief Minister's assets including that of his wife and the undivided family increased by 34% between 2016 and now. Palaniswami had declared assets worth Rs 5 crore in the 2016 assembly polls and it had included Rs 12.83 lakh and Rs 1.97 crore of his movable and immovable assets respectively. In 2016, he said that his wife has Rs 1.03 crore movable assets and Rs Rs 1.94 crore worth of immovable assets. 

In 2021, he has declared the total assets as Rs 6.69 crore and in five years, his movable assets had increased from Rs 12.83 lakh to Rs 47.64 lakh. He hadn't added any immovable assets. While the movable assets of his spouse had increased, the immovable assets had seen a slight decline and he had mentioned 'farming' as his primary job but he hasn't declared any agricultural land under his name. He also has asserted that he has no pending cases against him. Through his nomination, Palaniswami will be contesting from the Edappadi constituency for the seventh time and this time, he hopes to win the seat for the third consecutive time. 

MK Stalin: DMK President Stalin will be contesting from Kolathur for the third time and on Monday, he had filed his nominations in which he had declared his assets. Stalin had seen a huge surge in his assets and his assets have increased by 53% from what he had declared in the 2016 polls. In 2016, Stalin declared the assets worth Rs 5.8 crore including the assets under the name of his spouse. 

Stalin's assets in 2016 included Rs 80 lakh and Rs 3.33 crore as his movable and immovable assets respectively while the movable asset under his spouse's name in 2016 was at Rs 31 lakh and the immovable assets stood at Rs 1.38 crore. In 2021, Stalin had seen a decline in immovable assets but recorded a sharp surge in his movable assets. 

On Monday, he had filed his nominations and declared a wealth of Rs 8.9 crore, a 53% increase from the last assembly polls. In five years, Stalin's movable assets had grown to Rs 4.95 crore from Rs 80 lakh, which had pushed his wealth forward amid the decline in his immovable assets. In 2016, Stalin's immovable assets were at Rs 3.33 crore while it has now decreased to Rs 2.25 crore. The movable assets of his spouse were at Rs 31 lakh in 2016 and now it had slightly decreased and currently stands at Rs 30.53 lakh while the immovable assets of his spouse remain unchanged. 

Stalin has declared he has 47 cases pending against him, most of which are for unlawful assembly during the COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions. Through their affidavits, it can be learned that MK Stalin is more wealthier than Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami. If there is a candidate who would have seen growth at a skyrocketing pace, it would be Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam as his assets had grown at a super high pace. 

Panneerselvam has filed his nomination on March 12 and he will be contesting from the Bodinayakkanur constituency in the Theni district. In his affidavit, he had declared his wealth as Rs 7.8 crore, which is around a 400% increase from what he had declared in the 2016 polls. In 2016, he declared the asset of Rs 1.5 crore and it includes Rs 33.20 lakh as his movable assets, Rs 22.44 lakh as the movable assets of his spouse, Rs 98 lakh as the immovable assets of his spouse. He hasn't declared any wealth under his immovable assets. 

In five years, his assets had increased to a whopping 400% as he declared the assets as Rs 7.8 crore. His movable assets currently stand at Rs 61.19 lakh while they stood at Rs 33.2 lakh in 2016. The movable assets of his spouse currently stand at Rs 4.57 crore from Rs 22.44 lakh in 2016. The immovable assets of his wife had also increased to Rs 2.64 crore from Rs 98 lakh. His wealth had sharply increased due to the surge in the assets of his wife. 

AMMK leader TTV Dhinakaran had declared a slight increase in his assets. In the 2017 by-polls to RK Nagar, Dhinakaran declared the assets of Rs 10.26 crore and now, the value of his assets stands at Rs 10.86 crore, which is higher than that of Palaniswami and MK Stalin. While Kamal Haasan is the richest candidate so far with the asset of Rs 177 crore, vice-president of Kamal's party Makkal Needhi Maiam R Mahendran is the second richest. Mahendran had declared that he and his wife have assets worth Rs 160 crore. According to the Tamil Nadu Election Commission, 980 candidates have filed nominations as of Monday.