Maharashtra Elections: Mumbai's Real Estate Tycoons Parag Shah, Mangal Lodha Among Richest Candidates

In Maharashtra's hotly-contested assembly elections next week, the political fate of two real estate tycoons from the Bharatiya Janata Party will be decided by voters.

Parag Shah and Mangal Prabhat Lodha are two of the richest candidates in fray for the Nov. 20 assembly polls. Both will be seeking re-election from their seats in Mumbai.

Here's all you need to know about Maharashtra's richest candidates:

Parag Shah is the incumbent BJP MLA from Mumbai's Ghatkopar East constituency, a traditional party stronghold with a sizable Gujarati population.

He has declared personal assets of over Rs 2,200 crore, up from Rs 500 crore in 2019. His wife Mansi Shah has assets worth Rs 1,170 crore.

As per his election affidavit, Shah has movable assets worth Rs 2,180 crore, primarily composed of the ownership of his real estate company. The value of gold in his portfolio is Rs 3.5 crore.

Shah is the founder and promoter of premium property developer Man Infraconstruction Ltd. whose market cap is around Rs 6,500 crore. According to the shareholding pattern on the BSE, the Shah family owns 67.18% equity and Parag himself has 31.53% stake.

The BJP leader reported an income of Rs 25.7 crore in fiscal 2024, up from Rs 5.8 crore five years ago. His primary source of income is business and investments, as per the affidavit.

Parag Shah has a Bachelor's degree in commerce from Osmania University. He has no pending criminal cases against him.

Shah's electoral journey began in 2017 when he was elected as a municipal councillor from Ghatkopar East on a BJP ticket. In his maiden assembly election debut in 2019, Shah won the seat by a margin of over 53,000 votes.

The businessman-turned-politician will face off against Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Rakhi Harishchandra Jadhav from the NCP (Sharad Pawar).

Builder-politician Mangal Prabhat Lodha is the sitting BJP MLA from south Mumbai's high-profile Malabar Hill constituency and a state cabinet minister.

He has declared personal assets of nearly Rs 250 crore. His wife Manjula has assets worth Rs 190 crore.

As per his election affidavit, Lodha has movable assets worth Rs 123.4 crore and Rs 125 crore of immovable assets. The value of gold in his portfolio is Rs 6.76 crore.

Lodha is the founder of Macrotech Developers Ltd., one of the top Mumbai-based real estate company. Also referred to as the Lodha Group, Macrotech has a market capitalisation of around Rs 1.2 lakh crore. According to the shareholding pattern on the BSE, the Lodha family has 72.11% equity in the company.

His son Abhishek Lodha is the managing director and chief executive officer of Lodha Group.

The BJP minister reported total income of Rs 1.12 crore in fiscal 2024, down from Rs 1.98 crore five years ago. His primary source of income is salary as a public servant and investments, as per the affidavit.

Lodha has a Bachelor's degree in commerce and one in law from Jodhpur University.

He has two pending criminal cases against him: one lodged by the Railways for alleged political demonstration by stopping the running of a train in 2004, and one for alleged wrongful restraint and assault of a BEST general manager in 2020 during a protest over power supply.

Mangal Prabhat Lodha will face off against Maha Vikas Aghadi candidate Bherulal Dayalal Choudhary from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

All the 288 assembly seats of Maharashtra will be contested in a single phase on Nov. 20. The counting of votes will be held on Nov. 23. The electoral battle will be multi-cornered among parties in the two key blocs: the Mahayuti that comprises the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP; and the Maha Vikas Aghadi which includes the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).