LS polls: TN's richest candidate, AIADMK's Ashok Kumar falls short

Chennai, Jun 5 (PTI) Aatral Ashok Kumar, the AIADMK's Erode candidate was said to be the richest of the 950 MP aspirants who contested the April 19 Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu and he had declared assets worth over Rs 500 crore.

Despite putting up a good fight, the debutant was swept away in the DMK wave, with the ruling party-led coalition netting all 39 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

According to the results published by the Election Commission, DMK's KE Prakash trumped Kumar by 2,36,566 votes and emerged victorious from the western constituency.

Kumar received 3,25,773 votes out of the 10,93,423 votes polled.

The AIADMK candidate had earlier declared net assets worth Rs 583.48 crore while filing nomination.

The 53-year-old resident of Erode had then shown movable assets valued at Rs 526.53 crore while the immovable assets -- both acquired and inherited -- were worth Rs 56.95 crore.

Kumar is the founding member and director of The Indian Public School (TIPS) and Amex Alloys Private Limited. He is also the founder of TIPS School of Architecture, TIPS School of Management, TIPS College of Arts and Science and the TIPS Global Institute.

After his graduation in electrical engineering in Coimbatore, he completed a Master's from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, and obtained an MBA from the University of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. PTI