the goan I network
PANAJI
NGO Association for Democratic Reforms has found several discrepancies in the affidavits of the candidates standing for both the Lok Sabha and bypolls in the State.
Data compiled by it shows that instead of submitting IT return details of five years, some candidates have made known only last year’s details (20017-18).
Further, candidates have stated only the purchase cost of their immovable assets instead of the current market price that is supposed to be mentioned.
Those who have mentioned the current market price, this price is much lower than the actual current market price in some cases. And assets bought (in just one transaction) are worth much more than the total IT returns filed in their life times.
From the last Lok Sabha poll in 2014, North Goa BJP candidate Shripad Naik’s net worth has increased by 56%. According to data compiled ADR, this increase mostly arises out of appreciation of immovable assets.
In 2014, Naik had assets worth Rs 3.70 crore, and the worth of these has jumped to Rs 6.58 crore in 2019.
Naik has stated that he has one agricultural plot of land, and one commercial, but has not uploaded how many residences or plots of non-agricultural plots of land he owns as is mandated.
In the last elections, he had stated that he owned seven plots of non-agricultural land and one residence.
Naik’s liabilities are Rs 14.91 lakh up from Rs 8.37 lakh
in 2014.
Data made public by ADR does not reveal assets of the five other candidates for North Goa. From available data, Congress candidate Girish Chodankar has not made public his IT returns of the past five years, which is a requirement.
Meanwhile, South Goa candidate Francisco Sardinha has claimed that the current market price of his bungalow in Vainguinim admeasuring 350 square meters on a 454 square meters plot of land is Rs 43.7 lakh.
Sardinha purchased this plot in 2001 for Rs 17 lakh, and spent Rs 10 lakh on constructing a bungalow, he claimed. The price of the same asset was mentioned as Rs 38 lakh in 2007, according to the ADR.
South Goa BJP candidate Narendra Sawaikar’s assets are Rs 1.45 crore in 2019, an almost 43% increase from Rs 62 lakh in 2014.
Sawaikar performed well in Parliament asking a total of 434 questions in five years, while the national average is just 293 questions.
Girish most qualified candidate in North, Vaingankar in South
PANAJI: Congress candidate Girish Chodankar is the most highly qualified candidate in North Goa, according to the data compiled by ADR based on affidavits filed by the candidates. Chodankar has MBA and BEd degrees.
Four of the candidates in North Goa hold Bachelor’s degree in Arts (Shirpad Naik and Amit Korgaonkar from the Republican Party of India-Kamble), and in Commerce (Pradeep Padgaonkar from AAP). Independent Bhagwant Kamat holds an engineering degree in mechanical engineering, while another independent Aishwarya Salgaonkar is an SSC pass.
Dr Kalidas Vaingankar an independent candidate from South Goa holds an MBBS degree and an MBA making him the most qualified candidate from South Goa. Two candidates from the South hold law degreess (BJP’s Sawaikar and AAP’s Elvis Gomes), while the remaining three hold Bachelor’s degrees - Congress’ Sardinha is a BA and BEd, Shiv Sena’s Rakhi Naik is a BSc, and independent Mayur Khankonkar is a BA.
Arolkar bought 5K sq m of non-agricultural land for `90k
PANAJI: Independent candidate for the Mapusa bypoll Jit Arolkar bought 5000 square meters of land in 2013 for only Rs 90,000, according to information compiled by NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
However, he bought another plot of land admeasuring 600 square meters for Rs 5 lakh around the same time in a nearby village.
Meanwhile, Mapusa BJP candidate Joshua D’Souza filed IT returns amounting to over Rs 11 lakh in the last financial year, up from Rs 5 lakh in the previous financial year (2016-17). D’Souza owns movable assets worth over Rs one crore. In the year 2017-18, he purchased a Beetle vehicle amounting to over Rs 28 lakh. D’Souza’s IT returns in his affidavit are higher than the IT returns filed by Shiroda’s MGP candidate Deepak Dhavalikar who claims to have paid just Rs 9.59 lakh in the last financial year, up from the Rs 5.76 lakh in the previous financial year. Congress candidate from Mandrem Babi Bagkar is not far behind Dhavalikar claiming he paid Rs 9.27 lakhs by way of IT returns from the last financial year (2017-18). The Congress’ Shiroda candidate Mahadev Naik claims to have paid IT returns amounting to over Rs 20 lakh for the last financial year. Meanwhile, there were anomalies found in the affidavit submitted by his competitor, Congress candidate Sudhir Khandolkar. Though Khandolkar revealed the amount of land he owns, all these are purchased from 2012 to 2016, but the current market price mentioned is exactly the same as purchase cost. Khandolkar is reported to own six plots of agricultural land worth Rs 1.20 crore, while he purchased the same at Rs 1.30 crore. He owns a commercial building which he claims costs Rs 0.73 crore, the same as when he bought it.
