Why are contesting candidates' spouse always richer?

A glance through the declared assets of candidates contesting the forthcoming Lok Sabha election reveals that the future lawmakers of the country are rich, but not as much as their spouses.

Most of the big names have shown lesser assets than their better halves. If husbands are contesting then their wives are richer, and if wives are contesting then husbands own larger properties.

Among the two major political parties -- Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party -- the wives of thirteen candidates are richer than their husbands.

Interestingly, the list includes Congress stalwart CP Joshi and Dushyant Singh, the son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje too.

The veteran Congress leader Joshi, who has been Union Minister in Manmohan Singh’s Cabinet has declared assets of 1.78 crore, while his wife has properties worth 2.83 crore.

Dushyant Singh, who was MP in the 15th Lok Sabha, owns lesser properties (worth Rs 3.52 cr) than his wife (3.81 crore). Similarly, BJP candidate from Kota, Om Birla, a sitting MLA owns only Rs 43 lakh but his wife owns property worth Rs 2.43 crore.

Arjun Lal, the BJP candidate from Udaipur, has two wives. His first wife owns properties worth Rs 9 lakh while his second wife has Rs 60 lakh and he has Rs 50 lakh.

BJP candidate from Jalore, Devji Patel has property worth Rs 43 lakh in his name but his wife has Rs 8.65 crore. PP Choudhari who is contesting from Pali on the Lotus symbol has assets worth Rs 12.85 crore but his wife has assets worth Rs 22.07 crore. Fellow party worker from Bikaner, Arjun Ram Meghwal has Rs 68 lakh in his name while his wife has owns property worth Rs 1.13 crore.

If BJP has 6, Congress has 7 such candidates. Besides Joshi, Harish Choudhary, Congress candidate from Barmer constituency, has movable and immovable property worth Rs 34 lakh, but his wife Himani own property worth Rs 3.82 crore.

Another Congress candidate from Rajsamand, Gopal Singh has Rs 28 lakh but his wife has Rs 50 lakh. Pramod Jain Bhaya owns property of Rs 9.24 crore, while his wife has Rs 14.28 crore.

Udailal Anjana has Rs 14.13 crore worth assets while his wife has Rs 15.15 crore. Party’s Jaipur candidate and sitting MP Mahesh Joshi has Rs 2.30 crore while his wife has 2.66 crore. Bhanwar Lal Meghwal’s wife has property of Rs 94 lakh while he has of only Rs 59 lakh.

But it is not only wives who are richer than their husbands. Husbands whose wives are in the fray are richer than their spouses. Significantly, both the women are ministers in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet

Chandresh Kumari has assets worth Rs 19.63 crore but her husband Aditya Dev has assets worth Rs 20.64 crore. Jyoti Mirdha has shown only Rs 15 crore worth property in her name, while her husband owns property worth Rs 36 crore.

For the first time, Jaipur Income Tax Department’s investigative wing is scanning the affidavits filed by the candidates.

“Right now we are scanning affidavits of assembly nominees. We will also scan the affidavits of the Parliament nominees,” said Sanjiv Singh, an investigative officer of IT, Rajasthan circle.

Another senior officer, on the condition of anonymity, said that most of the candidate hide information related to assets and provide only that has been mentioned in the IT documents.

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