Former India batsman and now Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) member Gautam Gambhir has been found to be the richest candidate in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Delhi. He is worth INR 147 crores and is set to make his political debut from East Delhi and has shown an income of nearly Rs 12.40 crore in the income tax returns filed for 2017-18.

A total of 349 candidates will be in the fray for the Lok Sabha election in the national capital. Along with Gautam, his wife Natasha has also shown Rs 6.15 lakh in the IT returns filed during the same period. Gambhir called time on his cricket career last year after playing his final domestic match against Andhra in Delhi in 2018.

Gambhir is known for his nationalistic views and has shown open support to the Indian Armed Forces and even announced that his foundation will take care of the education of the children of the CRPF martyrs of Pulwama incident. He played 58 Tests, 147 ODIs and 37 T20Is for India from 2003-2016, scoring 4154, 5238 and 932 runs respectively. He was the hero of India’s two World Title wins, making the highest score in the final of the ICC World T20 2007 against Pakistan and his memorable innings of 97 enabled India to chase down 270-odd in the final of the ICC World Cup 2011 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

Mahabal Mishra of the Congress, who would be contesting from West Delhi, was the second richest among the BJP and Congress candidates, as his total assets were worth Rs 45 crore. Boxer Vijender Singh will also be contesting on a Congress ticket and his assets worth Rs12.14 crore.

Gambhir will be pitted against former MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely of the Congress and Atishi of the AAP. Gambhir also owns at least five four-wheelers and one two-wheeler.

(Inputs from Hindustan Times)