Agartala: Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar is probably the poorest serving chief minister in the country currently. The man who is running for the fifth consecutive term has Rs 3,930, states the election affidavit that he submitted while filing his nomination paper.
The Left leader donates his entire salary to the CPI(M) and gets Rs 5,000 from the party as subsistence allowances. Sarkar has never filed any income tax return.
With Rs 1,520 in hand and Rs 2,410 in his account in a nationalised bank, the 69-year-old leader does not own a house. For the past 20 years, he has been staying in CM’s official quarters. He also does not hold any cultivable land.
He reportedly does not even carry a mobile phone and not does he have an email account or any social media account.
His wife Panchali Bhattacharya, a retired central government employee, has Rs 20,140 in cash and Rs 1,24,101 and Rs 86,473.78 in two bank accounts. She also has three fixed deposits of Rs 2 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 2.25 lakh, besides 20 grams of jewellery.
Bhattacharya inherited 888.35 sq ft area of land and till date invested Rs 15 lakh for construction there. The current value of the land is Rs 21 lakh.
She filed her last income tax return in 2011-12, where she showed her income as Rs 4,49,770. She hasn’t filed any income tax return since. They have no children.
Sarkar is contesting from Dhanpur constituency and filed his nomination papers on Monday.
Bureau Report
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