Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi neither owns any vehicle, nor a house in India, but she has an ancestral home worth nearly Rs 27 Lakh in Italy. As per the poll affidavit attached to Gandhi’s Rajya Sabha nomination papers filed from Rajasthan, she has total assets worth Rs 12,53,76,822 (Rs 12.53 crore).
As per the affidavit, Italian-born 77-year-old Sonia Gandhi has movable assets worth Rs 6,38,11,415, (Rs 6.38 crore), which include assets such as jewellery, royalty from Oxford University, investments, bonds, bank deposits, and Rs 90,000 in cash, according to media reports.
The Congress matriarch in her affidavit mentioned that her share, in the residential property she inherited from her father in Italy, amounts to Rs 26,83,594 (Rs 26.83 lakh) at the current market value.
As per the document, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s widow also has jewellery worth Rs 1,07,15,940 (Rs 1.07 crore), which includes 88 kg silver– amounting to Rs 57.2 lakh– and 1.267 grams of gold–amounting to Rs 49.95 lakh.
She also owns three bighas (2529.28 square metre) of agricultural land in New Delhi’s Dera Mandi village, valued at Rs 5.88 crore, as per the current market rate of Rs 23,280 per square metre.
Her other streams of income include her salary as an MP, royalty income, interest on bank deposits, dividends from mutual funds, and capital gains as sources of income.
As per her documents, the former Congress president has agreements with Penguin Book India, Oxford University Press, Ananda Publishers, and Continental Publications and gets royalty from books.
Gandhi’s affidavit showed that her total assets had increased by Rs 72 lakh in five years.
During the 2014 Lok Sabha poll, Gandhi declared her total wealth worth Rs 9.28 crore, which grew approximately 27.59 per cent to Rs 11.82 crore in 2019.
As per her latest declaration, her assets have further increased by 5.89 per cent to 12.53 crore in 2024.
It is to be noted that Sonia Gandhi’s assets saw a significant jump between 2009 and 2014 by 574.18 per cent, as per a report by India Today.
In the section related to educational qualification, Sonia Gandhi mentions two courses: a three-year course in foreign languages (English and French) from an institute in Turin (Italy) and a Certificate in English Language from Lennox Cook School, Cambridge.
Sonia Gandhi also declared the criminal cases pending against her in her affidavit. She revealed that she has never been convicted in any criminal case.
However, the case registered against the shareholders in the National Herald (including her), filed on the petition of Subramanian Swamy on charges of fraud and irregularities, is still pending in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court. The case is filed under sections 420,120B, 403,406. Delhi High Court stayed the trial court process on Feb 22, 2022.
In the digital age of social media, Sonia Gandhi’s affidavit shows that she does not have any social media accounts. She declared that she does not have any presence on Facebook, X or Instagram.
Sonia Gandhi informed voters of her Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh that she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls due to health and age issues. However, She will continue to have a significant role in Indian politics though, as she will join parliament’s indirectly elected upper house, for which she filed her nomination earlier this week.
The biennial Rajya Sabha elections to fill 56 seats are scheduled for February 27, with the last date for filing nominations being February 15.
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