Big leaders,rich wives

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has declared Rs 5,000 cash and nothing else besides in his name.

When he filed his nomination,Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee declared Rs 5,000 cash and nothing else besides in his name. The rest of the Rs 46 lakh-plus he declared was all in the name of his wife Mira.

The total assets declared by ministers Gautam Deb,Nirupam Sen,Asim Dasgupta and Susanta Ghosh,too,showed a larger share in their wives names. This is true also of candidates from the Opposition,such as state Congress chief Manas Bhunia.

Wives are frequently shown as richer than their candidate husbands in the declarations,at least in terms of movable assets,often in all aspects. It has been an accepted strategy to stack assets movable or immovable in the name of ones wife, concedes Shyamoli Gupta,chief of Ganatantrik Mahila Samity,the CPM womens wing. In some cases,she says,leaders have been known to get wealth registered even their in-laws names. Wives richer than husbands include not only women in jobs but also housewives.

Election Watch,an organisation monitoring the wealth of candidates,is examining this aspect,says its member Biplab Halim.

The candidates and their better halves:

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
CMs total personal assets,all of it cash in hand: Rs 5,000

Mira Bhattacharjee8217;s assets: Rs 46 lakh

Total assets of Mira Bhattacharjee,retired as a senior manager from a private company and now its adviser,including movable assets worth Rs 31 lakh besides a flat worth Rs 15 lakh

Gautam Deb
The Housing Ministers personal assets,all of it movable: Rs 19 lakh

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Total assets of Debjani Deb,professor; includes Rs 14.8 lakh immovable: Rs 25.8 lakh

Asim Dasgupta
Finance Ministers personal assets,all of it movable: Rs 17 lakh

Total assets of Shyamali Dasgupta,retired from RBI; this includes nearly Rs 20 lakh movable: Rs 22 lakh

Nirupam Sen
Industry Ministers personal assets: Rs 7.1 lakh

Chandraboli Sen,retired college teacher: Rs 26.8 lakh

Arabul Islam
Trinamool MLAs total movable assets: Rs 1.5 lakh

Jahanara Biwi,housewife movable assets: Rs 30 lakh

Subrata Mukherjee
Former Trinamool mayors movable assets: Rs 7.4 lakh

Movable assets of wife,who is in service: Rs 20 lakh

Manas Bhunia
Movable assets of state Congress president: Rs 26.1 lakh

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Total movable assets of Gita Rani Baidya,a housewife: Rs 30.5 lakh In terms of immovable assets,however,Bhunia is wealthier than wife: Rs 1.2 crore to her Rs 21.3 lakh

Sushanta Ghosh
Ministers total assets,including Rs 1.23 lakh immovable: Rs 1.87 lakh

Total assets of wife,a primary schoolteacher,including Rs 6 lakh immovable: Rs 7 lakh