Congress’ Chandigarh candidate and sitting MP Pawan Kumar Bansal’s assets have doubled over the past five years.
The former Railway Minister and four-time MP Bansal on Tuesday filed his nomination papers for the Chandigarh lok Sabha seat, polling for which will be held on April 10. As per the affidavit filed by him, Bansal has a total assets of Rs 6.14 crore, including movable property worth Rs 1,09,30,078 and immovable assets of Rs 5,05,00,000. As per his affidavit filed in 2009, he had assets approx Rs 3.4 crore while in 2004, his asset value was more than Rs 1.75 crore.
The 65-year-old Bansal was accompanied by his wife Madhu, son Manish, city Mayor HC Kalyan and a few supporters when he reached the office of the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Returning Officer here to file his nominations. As per the affidavit, he owns a Maruti Esteem car and Honda city car. Other movable assets include Rs 1,00,000 cash in hand, Benevolent Fund of Rs 32,200 in Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association, Rs 26,00,000 loan to Heritage Educational Society and Rs 30,00,000 loan to Theon Pharmaceuticals limited, 50 gms gold jewellery value of Rs 1,50,000 and fixed deposits in different banks.
The immovable assets of Bansal include Rs 5 lakh share in agriculture land of 1 bigha (21 acre) in New Delhi and Rs 5 crore share in his residence in Sector 28 which has a market value of Rs 10 crore, as per the affidavit. Interestingly, Bansal’s wife Madhu Bansal has movable assets of Rs 1,60,47,920, more than his husband possesses. She owns gold jewellery worth Rs 36,83,431 and silver jewellery worth Rs 6,48,360. Other movable assets include Rs 50,00,000 loan to Theon Pharmaceuticals limited, share capital of Rs 40,65,000 in Theon Pharmaceuticals, Rs 1 lakh cash in hand among others.
Notably, the Opposition BJP had last year alleged that Bansal’s family owned Theon Pharmaceuticals registered staggering turnover due to unethical acts. BJP alleged that Theon Pharmaceuticals, a company owned by Bansal’s wife Madhu and sons Amit and Manish had clocked a turnover of Rs 152 crore due to misuse of Bansal’s political position. The allegations were leveled following the arrest of Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla in Railway Board Scam. Bansal also had to resign from the Cabinet Ministry after Singla’s arrest. After the directions of the Election Commission, Bansal has also given details of his accounts on social media platforms in his affidavit filed.
Meanwhile, speaking to mediapersons, Bansal thanked Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi and members of the party’s Central Election Committee for reposing faith in him and re-nominating him from Chandigarh for the seventh time. This time, Bansal is pitted against three prominent women candidates in Chandigarh — former AAP’s candidate Gul Panag, BJP’s actress-turned-politician Kirron Kher and the BSP’s Jannat Jahan.
Chandigarh’s BSP candidate Jannat Jahan also filed her nomination on Tuesday. According to her affidavit, she has movable assets worth Rs 22 lakh and does not own any immovable assets. An independent candidate Deepak Shukla also filed his nomination on Tuesday.During lok Sabha polls 2009, NRI Independent candidate Ajay Goyal with assets of worth over Rs 15 crore was the richest candidate in the fray.