Andhra Pradesh and Odisha offer a closer look at wealth in politics

 

BIZ MASALA INVESTIGATION  |  SERIES

Part Three of Who Owns the Wealth, Who Wields the Power? An academic study combines election affidavits with fieldwork during the 2024 campaign, while keeping its claims within the states and districts it examined.

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The story

What the affidavit data show

A 2024 study in Economic & Political Weekly by Ward Berenschot, Sarthak Bagchi and Vignesh Karthik K R examines declared wealth and business backgrounds among candidates in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The researchers report that the average declared wealth of winning Andhra Pradesh MLAs rose from ₹3.25 crore in 2009 to ₹60.74 crore in 2024, about an 18-fold increase. In Odisha, the average rose from ₹1.75 crore to ₹6.14 crore, about 3.5-fold.

The comparison is based on candidates’ affidavits. It describes declared assets, not independently audited net worth, and the averages do not establish why assets changed. The authors compare growth in Andhra Pradesh with income growth and find the asset increase substantially higher; for Odisha, they say the increase was below the income growth measure they use.

Business backgrounds also became more common

The authors report that the share of effective MLA candidates declaring a business background rose in Andhra Pradesh from 34% in 2014 to 39% in 2024. In Odisha, it rose from 23% to 34%. Their table also reports spouse business backgrounds, a reminder that a candidate’s own stated occupation may not capture the wider household’s business interests.

The authors caution that affidavit occupations record a candidate’s stated profession before entering politics. They may not capture enterprises developed later, or businesses held by spouses and other family members. The figures therefore measure what the affidavits reveal under the study’s definitions, rather than every political-commercial connection.

What fieldwork adds—and where its limits are

The paper describes fieldwork conducted between April and June 2024. Six researchers spent 35 days shadowing candidates in three districts in each state, using observation, interviews and informal conversations. The districts and informants are anonymised. The authors discuss campaign spending, voter expectations and the state-dependent character of local economies as factors that may help explain the patterns they observe.

Those interviews provide context, not a representative survey of every campaign in either state. Accounts about cash distribution or campaign practices should remain attributed to the study and its interviewees. They do not establish that all candidates or voters participated in those practices.

Why the “oligarchisation” label needs attribution

The authors use “oligarchisation” to describe a gradual fusion of economic and political power, measured in their analysis through rising average wealth and a growing share of politicians with business backgrounds. It is an analytical framework advanced by the researchers—not a legal finding about a named politician or a claim that every wealthy representative has acted improperly.

The study also finds that many politician-owned businesses operate in sectors where public permits or contracts can matter. That overlap justifies further reporting. To establish preferential treatment in a specific case, journalists would need to trace the company, the relevant public decision, the decision-makers, the outcome and the responses of those involved.

Source: authors’ analysis of MyNeta candidate affidavits. Nominal declared asset values; figures are averages for winning MLA candidates.

Source: authors’ analysis of MyNeta candidate affidavits. “Business background” follows the study’s classification.

Business backgrounds among MLA candidates

Election year	Andhra Pradesh	Odisha
2014	34%	23%
2019	35%	26%
2024	39%	34%

Source: Berenschot, Bagchi and Karthik (2024), Table 2. Categories are those used by the authors.

What the evidence establishes—and what it does not

ESTABLISHES  In the affidavit data analysed, average declared wealth among winning MLAs rose markedly in both states, and declared business backgrounds became more common.

 

DOES NOT ESTABLISH  The data do not prove wealth came from political office, that business owners received improper benefits, or that campaign practices described in interviews were universal.

 

Sources and method

This story summarizes the sources below. Figures retain the definitions and limitations used by those sources; they are not presented as proof of improper conduct.

·       The Oligarchisation of India’s Democracy: Evidence from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha — EPW study; affidavit analysis and 2024 fieldwork in six anonymised districts

·       University of Amsterdam research record — publication details and repository record