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This Candidate From Solapur Has Declared Assets Worth Rs 2.8 Crore But Doesn't Have A PAN Card

Jaisidheshwar Shivacharya Maharaj of the BJP is the only Lok Sabha candidate in the state who does not have a PAN card.

The 63-year-old religious leader contested the election from the reserved Solapur constituency against Congress veteran Sushilkumar Shinde and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar.

In his 20-page affidavit submitted to the Solapur returning officer, Maharaj, a PhD from Banaras Hindu University in 1990, stated that a PAN card had not been issued to him. In the space for income-tax returns, he stated that it was not applicable to him.

A bureaucrat associated with the state election branch said a PAN card was not mandatory for candidates. "If one does not have a PAN card, he still can contest the Lok Sabha or state assembly election," the bureaucrat said. "He may not have a regular or fixed income and he may not have a PAN card."

While Maharaj's movable assets are valued at Rs 6.46 lakh, his immovable assets are worth Rs 2.72 crore.

Maharaj gave his Class 10 examinations from Sidheshwar High School in Solapur.

Maharaj has minor deposits in nationalised and private banks in Solapur, besides small pieces of land near Solapur. He owns a 1997 model Ambassador car worth Rs 10,000. In addition, he has silver pooja utensils worth Rs 2 lakh.

He never took any loans, and in the column on payment of taxes to the local civic body, payment of goods and services tax and payment of dues to the state government, he stated that it was not applicable to him.

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While no one is dependent on him, in the column on criminal cases registered against him or pending before the court and convictions in any cases, he stated that it was not applicable to him.

A senior BJP politician said that Maharaj was a religious leader and believed in working for poor people. "Since he has no source of income, he may not have applied for a PAN card," the politician said. "As per our rules, PAN card is not mandatory for contesting the Lok Sabha or state assembly election."

Shinde, who lost the 2014 Lok Sabha election to Sharad Bansode of the BJP, declined to comment on the PAN card status of Maharaj.


Originally Published In The Times Of India

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