M A I N   N E W S

In Hisar, Cong candidate ‘poorest’
Tribune News Service

Hisar/Chandigarh, October 11
Although corruption is said to be a key issue in the Hisar byelection to the Lok Sabha, neither Team Anna nor the media evinced much interest in the assets declared by the three main contestants all these weeks. While the campaigning came to an end today, the polling is scheduled on Thursday while the counting of votes will take place on October 17.

The National Election Watch on Tuesday issued a statement, which pointed out that “due to some technical problems, CEO, Haryana’s website does not have the affidavits filed by candidates declaring the assets owned by them and their immediate family.

The NEW statement claims that a scrutiny of the affidavits show that the Haryana Janhit Congress candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi is by far the richest of the 40 candidates in the fray. Bishnoi declared having assets worth Rs 48.85 crore while the INLD candidate Ajay Singh Chautala has assets worth Rs 40.16 crore. The Indian National Congress candidate

Jai Parkash is by far the poorest, declaring assets worth ‘only’ Rs 3.16 crore.

What is even more interesting is the rate at which their assets grew during the last two years, since the 2009 general election. During this period, Bishnoi’s assets grew by a whopping Rs 31.5 crore, judging by the affidavits filed by him then and now. Similarly, Ajay Chautala’s assets grew by Rs 10.1 crore and even the poorest of the three, Jai Parkash’s assets grew by Rs 2.50 crore.

The Income Tax Returns filed by them and their spouses also provide interesting insights.

While Ajay Chautala last year put his annual income at Rs 64 lakhs and that of his spouse at Rs 19 lakhs, Kuldeep Bishnoi filed returns of Rs 22 lakhs and Rs 1.96 lakhs. The Congress candidate declared an income of Rs 7.97 lakhs for himself and Rs 5.86 lakhs for his wife.

While the Congress candidate does not appear to own a single vehicle, Ajay Chautala has listed a Mercedes Benz and Kuldeep Bishnoi a Jaguar, a Merc and a Ranger Rover in the fleet owned by him.

The Congress candidate is not only the poorest of the three but also has the least formal education among them. While Ajay Chautala boasts of a law degree from Rajasthan and a Doctorate from Kurukshetra, Bishnoi is just a graduate while Jai Parkash has never been to a college.