Elections - Wife of a leading candidate declares 'nil' bank balance...........

“The wife of the Senior leader has 3 bank accounts and there was no balance in them at all” – is the declaration of the politician.

Tamil Nadu goes to poll tomorrow and the campaign has ended yesterday.  For the 234 member TN assembly, more than 4200 filed their  nominations and 1150 among them were rejected for various reasons.   The nomination of Mrs Jayanthi Thankgabalu was rejected as she had not signed the papers. 

India is not a poor country and Tamil Nadu certainly is not – there are reports that there are at least 240 crorepatis contesting the forthcoming elections with more than a dozen of them having declared assets worth over Rs.20 crores.  The mindset of the people is cynical as there could be much beyond the declared assets in many cases.  The famous retail outlet ‘Vasanth &Co’ owner – H Vasanthkumar tops the list with 133 crores of declared value followed by S Duraisamy of ADMK.    Some have declared liabilities also and the DMK nominee of Ranipet tops the list with 50 crore loan.   There is also a case of a Minister whose value has sky rocketed from a mere 1 lakh to close to 8  crores. 

Money was in transit and there were news of huge cash cache whilst they were transported in various modes.  Reports state that close to 43 crores of rupees were seized but the EC could not link these amounts to any one – EC has asked the IT Dept. to initiate action against the persons in whose possession the money was found.  Elsewhere in Kolkata the EC issued show cause notice to a Trinamool Cong leader from whom 57 lakh was seized. 

The first line did not pertain to Tamilnadu – the presidential polls are a year away in Russia.  There has been rising oil prices, inflation and other woes as Russians are to chose their President.  Recently Russian leaders declared their incomes for 2010 - President Dmitry Medvedev  declared  that he owns only one classic car dating back to the Stalin era and his wife has no savings. Medvedev earned 3.378 million rubles ($120,653) last year, he said in a declaration published on the Kremlin website.

His income was significantly less than that of his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who declared $180,118.  Neither leader had bought any new cars, land or apartments since last year. Putin still owns the same fleet of two classic Volga cars, a jeep and a towed caravan, all Russian made, while Medvedev said that his only private car is a Soviet-made Pobeda classic car dating back to 1948. His wife Svetlana, a housewife, listed a 12-year-old Volkswagen Golf, which she has declared for the last three years. Svetlana Medvedeva declared that her three bank accounts were completely empty, with a balance of zero rubles.

Both Putin and Medvedev declared higher incomes than in 2009.  The wife of first deputy prime minister Igor Shuvalov was the highest earning spouse and the one having the  most impressive car collection, boasting seven vehicles including three Mercedes and a Soviet-made Zil limousine.

Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev born 14 September 1965,  is the third and current President of the Russian Federation. He won the presidential election held on 2 March 2008 with 71.25% of the popular vote, and was inaugurated on 7 May 2008.  Economic modernization was his top agenda -  the  Medvedev modernisation programme aims at modernising Russia's economy and society, decreasing the country's dependency on oil and gas revenues and creating a diversified economy based on high technology and innovation.  The programme is based on the top 5 priorities for the country's technological development: efficient energy use; nuclear technology; information technology; medical technology and pharmaceuticals; and space technology in combination with telecommunications

Don’t heave a sigh reading all these – TN is unique.  Ensure that you cast your vote without fail.

Regards – S. Sampathkumar.