Arvind Kejriwal, wife’s assets up, Sisodia’s assets go down

NEW DELHI: The total movable assets of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have gone up by about Rs 8 lakh since 2015 and that of his wife by Rs 41 lakh.

In an affidavit filed with the Election Commission, Kejriwal, who is contesting the Assembly elections from the New Delhi seat for the third consecutive time, declared that he has not bought any new immovable asset in the last five years.

Kejriwal’s affidavit also showed that he has 13 criminal cases, including seven defamation cases, pending against him. Interestingly, a comparison of the 2015 and 2020 affidavits showed that the Chief Minister is no longer a voter of the New Delhi constituency as he is now enrolled in the Chandni Chowk seat.

While the value of Kejriwal’s movable assets has increased, that of his deputy Manish Sisodia has gone down from Rs 4,92,624 in 2013-14 to Rs 4,74,888 in 2018-19.

Sisodia’s affidavit says he does not even have a car in his name. There has, however, been a steep increase in the value of his immovable assets — a property he had bought in Vasundhara, Ghaziabad, for Rs 5.07 lakh in April 2001 is now valued at Rs 21 lakh. It was valued at Rs 12 lakh in 2015.

In 2015, Kejriwal declared the value of his movable assets at Rs 2,26,005, which went up to Rs 9,95,741 in 2020 — an increase of Rs 7,69,736. The self-acquired immovable property of Kejriwal and his family remained roughly the same as in 2015.

The worth of Kejriwal’s self-acquired immovable property was Rs 92 lakh in 2015, but, with an increase in the market value of the property, it has now jumped to Rs 1.77 crore. He had bought a property in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad in 1998 at a cost of Rs 3.5 lakh, and its “current approximate market value” was Rs 55 lakh in 2015, which doubled to Rs 1.4 crore in 2020. He inherited a property in Haryana and its worth remained the same since 2015, at Rs 37 lakh.

Kejriwal said his wife Sunita has bought a residential property in Gurgaon at a cost of Rs 61 lakh. Her movable assets increased from Rs 15,28,361 in 2015 to Rs 57,07,791 in 2020. While Kejriwal has no liabilities, his wife had a loan worth Rs 41 lakh in 2015, which has become “nil” now. She had a home loan worth Rs 30 lakh from SBI and had also borrowed Rs 11 lakh from relatives in 2015. The gold and silver owned by Sunita, a housewife and retired government officer, have increased in five years. She owns 320 grams of gold and one kg silver against 300 grams and 500 grams respectively in 2015. While the family was not having any car in 2015, it now owns a Maruti Baleno, 2017 model valued at Rs 6.20 lakh. In 2013-14, Kejriwal’s total income was Rs 2,07,330, which increased to Rs 2,81,375 in 2018-19. But the income of his wife has gone down from Rs 11,83,390 in 2013-14 to Rs 9,94,790 in 2018-19.

Kejriwal, a graduate in mechanical engineering from IIT Kharagpur, has declared that while he was drawing a salary, his spouse is now on pension.

As per the affidavit, the cash and fixed deposits in the name of the 51-year-old politician and his wife increased from about Rs 15 lakh in 2015 to Rs 57 lakh in 2020. This again was primarily due to his wife receiving Rs 32 lakh in voluntary retirement benefits.

Many of the criminal cases against Kejriwal have been filed by BJP leaders such as Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Vijender Gupta, former MLA Karan Singh Tanwar and South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri.

One case of alleged assault and criminal conspiracy has also been registered against Kejriwal for a matter pertaining to violence during the inauguration of the Signature Bridge. In this case, AAP’s Okhla MLA Amanatullah Khan is also an accused. Another assault case is pending against him under the Civil Lines police station in connection with the alleged attack on then-chief secretary Anshu Prakash in 2018.