Union Minister Smriti Irani filed her nomination from Uttar Pradesh's highly discussed Amethi Lok Sabha seat on Monday, following a grand road show. According to her election affidavit, the wealth of the incumbent MP's family has increased by Rs 6 crore in the last five years.
Smriti Irani's election affidavit reveals that she has no pending criminal cases against her. She has declared movable assets worth Rs. 3.08 crore, while her husband, Zubin Irani, has movable assets worth over Rs. 3.3 crore.
Smriti Irani has declared immovable assets worth Rs. 5.66 crore, while her husband owns immovable assets worth Rs. 5.51 crore.
During the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, the total wealth of Smriti Irani's family was around Rs. 11 crore, which has now increased to more than Rs. 17 crore. This means that in the last five years, the wealth of Smriti Irani's family has increased by about Rs. 6 crore.
Smriti Irani's movable assets include over Rs. 25,48,000 deposited in five savings accounts, and she has invested Rs. 88 lakh in mutual funds. She has also declared a Public Provident Fund/Post Office balance worth Rs. 30,77,936.
The actress-turned-politician owns an MG Hector priced at around Rs. 28,00,000. According to the affidavit, she purchased the car in 2023. She also possesses gold and other jewelry worth Rs. 37,48,440.
Among her immovable assets are six agricultural lands and one non-agricultural land. She has four houses in her name: two in Mumbai (jointly owned by her husband), one in Goa, and one in Pune.
In 2019, a high-octane battle unfolded in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi Lok Sabha seat where the Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, then sitting MP from Amethi, faced defeat at the hands of BJP's firebrand leader Smriti Irani.
Smriti defeated Rahul with a margin of over one lakh votes.
As of now, Congress hasn't announced its candidate from the seat this year, which remained its stronghold until 2019.
Why is it important for the Congress to recapture the Amethi Lok Sabha seat?
Amethi elected Rahul Gandhi for three terms between 2004 and 2019. Rahul's father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had won four elections from this seat between 1981 and 1991. Before Rajiv, his brother Sanjay represented the constituency in parliament for a brief period.
