BJP candidate declares assets of ₹200 cr
DEHRADUN: The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tehri Garhwal candidate and titular queen of erstwhile Garhwal kingdom, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah in her election affidavit declared that she and her husband together own assets worth at least ₹ 200 crore.
According to the affidavit submitted with the returning officer, Shah owns movable assets worth ₹ 6.96 crore and immovable assets worth ₹ 90 lakh while her husband Manujendra Shah owns ₹ 46.08 crore movable assets and immovable assets ₹ 147.17 crore. Of the total immovable assets, Manujendra Singh inherited assets worth ₹ 144.17 crore from his royal family. Their Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) owns ₹ 2.25 crore of movable assets and ₹3.5 crore of immovable assets.Shah’s husband has a liability of ₹ 16.40 crore and their HUF owes ₹ 1.5 crore.
Shah’s annual income, as per her income tax return for 2022-23 attached to the election affidavit, was ₹ 23.84 lakh while her husband’s income was ₹ 6.92 crore during the same period. According to the affidavit, Shah completed her senior secondary schooling from Ratna Rajya Laxmi College in Kathmandu in 1971.
Shah who belonged to the royal family of Nepal got married into the Tehri royal family. The Tehri family is considered to wield a lot of influence among the local residents. Its scion Manabendra Shah was elected from Tehri Lok Sabha seat for a record eight times.
In the 2012 by-election, when Vijay Bahuguna vacated the Lok Sabha seat to become the state chief minister for the Congress, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah first grabbed the seat. She was the first woman to be elected to the Lok Sabha from the state since its formation in 2000.
From 2012 to 2019 elections, the BJP has only succeeded in accumulating its vote share in the Tehri Garhwal seat through her, people familiar with the matter said. The BJP’s vote share in 2012 by poll was 48.11%. It increased to 64.53% in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Shah is up against Congress’ Jot Singh Gunsola, two-time MLA from Mussoorie, from Tehri Garhwal seat.
Gunsola was first elected as MLA in 2002 and then in 2007. He has also served twice as the Mussoorie Municipal Council chairman. Independent candidate Bobby Panwar, a vocal critic of the state government over the paper leak incidents, will also be fighting from the Tehri Garhwal candidate. His entry into the contest from Tehri Garhwal seat could heat up the contest.
Panwar, who is also Uttarakhand Berozgaar Sangh president, came into limelight in July 2022 for mobilising youths against incidents of paper leaks in government recruitment exams. However, his journey to political candidacy isn’t devoid of legal entanglements. He faces eight cases registered across various police stations in Dehradun and Bageshwar, with seven FIRs filed in 2023 even though Panwar maintains that these cases are “politically motivated”.