M A I N   N E W S

FATEHABAD BYELECTION
Candidates clean, claim affidavits
Yoginder Gupta & Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Fatehabad, May 9
None of the four main contenders — Mr Dura Ram (Congress), Mrs Swatantara Chowdhary (Indian National Lok Dal), Mr Prahlad Singh Gillankhera (Haryana Vikas Party) and Mr Krishan Swaroop (CPM) — in the Fatehabad Assembly byelection has any criminal case pending against him or her in which the offence is punishable for two years or more.

This is as per information revealed by them in the affidavits submitted along with their nomination papers.

It may be recalled that a recent Supreme Court judgement had made it mandatory for the candidates to reveal their criminal antecedents as well as the details of their, spouse’s and dependent children’s moveable and immovable assets along with educational qualifications at the time of filing their nominations.

Mr Krishan Swaroop has revealed that he owns 10 acres of land worth about Rs 25 lakh and a residential house worth about Rs 2 lakh. He is a B.A., B.Ed. and has Rs 10,000 in cash and Rs 1500 in a bank account.

Mr Gillankhera, a graduate, along with his wife has Rs 50,000 in cash with no money in banks. He owns a Tata Sumo and an HMT tractor. He and his wife are owners of 500 gm of gold worth Rs 2.69 lakh.

The HVP nominee holds 5,000 shares worth Rs 5 lakh in Matsya Auto Limited, Alwar, He has also advanced a loan of over Rs 19 lakh to the same company. Another about Rs 5. 33 lakh, which Mr Gillankhera owns in Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), has also been given as loan to the Alwar company.

While Mr Gillankhera owns over 23 acres of land worth about Rs 30 lakh, his wife has about 10 acres of land worth over Rs 12 lakh. He also owns an ancestral house worth Rs 10 lakh in Gillankhera village. He has taken a loan of Rs 21 lakh from a local company.

Mr Dura Ram and his wife together have Rs 4.30 lakh in cash. While he has about Rs 1.28 lakh in bank, his wife has over Rs 92,000 in bank accounts. His son has only Rs 568.12 in his bank account, besides two fixed deposit receipts of Rs 50,000 each.

The Congress nominee owns a Zen and his son drives a Maruti Esteem. He and his wife have 750 gm of gold worth about Rs 3.75 lakh. He owns about 26 acres of agriculture land at a number of places, the value of which he has stated to be about Rs 42 lakh. His wife, Mrs Malagri Devi, owns another over two acres of agriculture land worth Rs 3 lakh. His son, Mr Sandeep Kumar, has over 20 acres of land worth about Rs 25 lakh.

Mr Dura Ram also owns a 700 sq. yd. residential plot in Sector 23 of Gurgaon. He has estimated its value to be about Rs 3 lakh. He owns another 250 sq. yd. residential plot in Sector 15, Hisar, the value of which, according to him, is about Rs 4 lakh. His wife also owns a 250 sq. yd. residential plot in Sector 15, Hisar, the value of which is stated to be Rs 4 lakh. The son has a 500 sq. yd plot in Sector 21 of Panchkula, worth about Rs 15 lakh, besides a 250 sq. yd. plot in Sector 40 of Gurgaon, worth about Rs 5 lakh.

Among the commercial property owned by Mr Dura Ram is a shop at Ratia worth Rs 3 lakh. Besides this, Mr Dura Ram has one-fifth share in four shops situated on the Bhattu Road, Fatehabad (worth about Rs 1 lakh) and one-fifth share in a shop located in the Hisar grain market worth about Rs 2 lakh.

His wife owns a residential house worth about Rs 15 lakh at Bhattu Road, Fatehabad, while his son has a house worth about Rs 15 lakh in Greater Kailash, Delhi.

He has not mentioned his educational qualifications.

The INLD nominee, Mrs Chowdhary and her husband, Mr Narinder Kumar, have Rs 25,000 in cash, besides about Rs 2.45 lakh in bank accounts. They also hold bonds worth about Rs 15,000 in the ICCI and the IDBI, besides a few shares in a number of companies, the value of which has not been disclosed. They also have about Rs 10 lakh in various saving schemes. Her husband owns a 1994-model Maruti 800.

Mr and Mrs Chowdhary own 315 gm of gold worth about Rs 1.57 lakh. Mr Chowdhary also owns about four acres of agriculture land worth Rs 8 lakh.

Mrs Chowdhary is a graduate from Panjab University, Chandigarh. She has done her masters in political science from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.

She has not given any details of the assets owned by her children, as they are “not dependent on the candidate”.