Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO on Wednesday disclosed that Congress MLAs had more asserts than BJP MLAs as per 2007 election affidavits.
Addressing a press conference, ADR’s state coordinator Bhaskar Assoldekar said that the average assets per MLA for Congress was Rs 3.33 crore, while for BJP was Rs 71 lakh. “Not just in case of MLAs but assets of Congress candidates was Rs 4.67 crore and for BJP it was Rs 68 lakh,” he said.
ADR representatives, who managed to analyze affidavits of all 40 MLAs, were of the opinion that the average asset per MLA was Rs 4.25 crore.
Education Minister Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate tops the list with assets worth Rs 15.32 crore followed by Urban Development Minister Joquim Alemao (Rs 9.12 crore), Health Minister Vishwajit Rane (Rs 7.46 crore), PWD minister Churchill Alemao (Rs 5.61 crore), Chief Minister Digamber Kamat (Rs 3.23 crore), power minister Alexio Sequeria and Madkai MLA Sudin Dhavalikar (Rs 3.03 crore each) and Home Minister Ravi Naik (Rs 3 crore).
Assoldekar said that the fresh assets of all sitting MLAs and candidates would be made public by February 23, once the final list of candidates is out.
“As the last date for withdrawal of nomination is February 16, the details would be sorted only after that, which would be later analyzed and made public,” Assoldekar said.
ADR has no authority to verify whether the details submitted in the affidavit are valid, Assoldekar said. “It’s the duty of Election Commission and returning officers,” he said.
Asoldekar said that the ADR is an NGO that operates all overIndia, compiles the election affidavits of candidates, simplifies it and disseminates it to the public. “We want citizens to know their candidates so that they make informed choices. We do not say who you should vote for but we urge more people to come out and cast their votes,” he stated.
Speaker of legislative assembly Pratapsingh Rane and BJP Goa Chief Laxmikant Parsekar are amongst the leaders who did not furnish their Permanent Account Number (PAN) to the election commission during 2007 polls.
ADR’s state coordinator Bhaskar Assoldekar disclosed that Goa is the only state, where its assembly speaker itself has not furnished PAN card details, while submitting affidavit.
As per the affidavit filed in 2007, the total assets of Rane were Rs 8.82 crore while Parsekar owned Rs 1.26 crore.
Apart from these two, three more BJP MLAs figures in the list of those who failed to produce the information- Francis D’Souza (Mapusa), Dayanand Mandrekar (Siolim) and Vasudev Meng Gaonkar (Sanguem).
“We have no idea whether they have no PAN card or whether they have refused to divulge the number,” Assoldekar said.
