Congress candidate in Belagavi Mrinal Hebalkar has assets worth ₹13.6 crore, a large portion of which is inherited. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The affidavits filed by various candidates in the Lok Sabha elections show a steady rise in their assets.
The affidavits show some very interesting inferences. The assets of Congress candidate from Belagavi Mrinal Hebbalkar have increased three-fold in three years. The 31-year-old civil engineer owns or manages sugar factories and a real estate and development firm. He filed income tax returns for ₹11.7 lakh in 2019-20, but it rose to ₹29.3 lakh in 2022-23.
Interestingly, the total assets declared by the young Congress leader and his political opponent and former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar are nearly equal. The total asset value of Mr. Hebbalkar is around ₹13.6 crore and that of Mr. Shettar is around ₹13.8 crore. A large portion of Mr. Hebbalkar’s assets are inherited. He has a debt of around ₹6 crore.
Mr. Hebbalkar is a generous lender. His total lending is over 30% of his total assets. He has lent a total of ₹4.1 crore to Harsha Sugars, Harsha Developers and a relative.
Both Mr. Hebbalkar and his wife, Hita Mrinal, do not own vehicles. Dr. Hita has total assets of ₹23 lakh, half of which are in the form of gold and silver jewellery. The post-graduate in medicine owns no real estate. Their daughter Ira has gold and silver ornaments worth ₹7.85 lakh.
Mr. Shettar’s assets have increased by ₹30 lakh in the period between the 2023 Assembly elections and now.
Last time, when Mr. Shettar fought as a Congress nominee, he had declared assets of ₹13.51 crore. But the total assets of the BJP candidate from Belagavi now stand at ₹13.82 crore. Of them, assets valued at ₹2.6 crore are inherited.
Mr. Shettar’s assets are 12 times more than those of his wife Shilpa. Mr. Shettar and his wife do not own any vehicles. Mr. Shettar has given loans to family members, but he has a pending debt of ₹57 lakh. Of the ₹91 lakh assets of Ms. Shilpa are jewellery, 1.1 kg gold and 3 kg silver.
The assets of BJP candidate from Chikkodi Anna Saheb Jolle have increased while those of his wife BJP MLA and former Minister Shashikala Jolle have decreased significantly.
Mr. Jolle has declared total assets of ₹21.62 crore. This marks an increase of ₹85 lakh compared to the last time he filed his affidavit.
However, Ms. Jolle’s assets have decreased by ₹39 crore in one year. In her affidavit for the Assembly polls, Ms. Jolle had shown her total assets to be worth ₹68.58 crore.
But now her husband’s affidavit says she has assets worth ₹29.54 crore only. The couple have two sons, one of whom has assets valued at ₹3.3 crore, while the details of the other are not available.
Mr. Jolle has five cars and three two-wheelers, in all, valued at ₹68 lakh.
