Lok Sabha polls: Rajeev Chandrasekhar says his taxable income is Rs 680 in election affidavit

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the minister of State at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, who is contesting against Congress bigwig Shashi Tharoor, has said that his taxable income is Rs 680 for the financial year 2021-22. Chandrasekhar is the BJP candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in Kerala.

In his poll affidavit, Chandrasekhar said he had Rs 52,000 in cash and has movable assets worth Rs 9.26 crore. This includes, Rs 10.38 crore in bank deposits, negative assets of Rs 45.7 crore in bonds, Rs 2,500 in NSC, Rs 41.2 crore in personal loans, a scooter valued at Rs 10,000, jewellery worth Rs 3.35 lakh, and other assets totaling Rs 5 lakh.

Besides, he declared his wife's assets, which is worth Rs 12.47 crore.

Chandrasekhar’s taxable earnings saw a significant drop from Rs 10.8 crore in the financial year 2018-19 to approximately Rs 5.6 lakh in 2022-23. His income declarations over the past five years were as follows: Rs 10.8 crore in 2018-19, Rs 4.5 crore in 2019-20, Rs 17.5 lakh in 2020-21, Rs 680 in 2021-22, and Rs 5.59 lakh in 2022-23.

In immovable assets, the IT minister declared assets valued at Rs 14.4 crore. However, he also acknowledged liabilities of nearly Rs 19.42 crore.

Chandrasekhar will be facing sitting MP Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram, who is contesting for the fourth consecutive time. The former Union minister has been winning the Thiruvananthapuram seat since 2009. Before 2009, the seat oscillated between CPM and the Congress. In 2019, Shashi Tharoor got over four lakh votes while BJP candidate Kummanam Rajasekharan was the second with around 3.16 lakh votes. On the other hand, this will be Rajeev Chandrasekhar's first Lok Sabha election.

The other big leader in the contest is CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran, who had won the elections in 2005.

Both Chandrasekhar, 59, and Tharoor, 67, are popular faces for their parties. Tharoor, a former diplomat, contested for the Congress presidential election in October 2022 against Mallikarjun Kharge. He faced one of his toughest challenges after his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s demise in 2014. But Tharoor managed to win the seat.

On the other hand, Chandrasekhar has had a successful stint as the Minister of State for IT and Skill Development since July 2021. He has a convincing grip on the corporate sector. In a personal capacity, Chandrasekhar has been a technology entrepreneur engaged in the semiconductor manufacturing sector.