Under Election Commission rules framed following a 2003 Supreme Court order, it is necessary to declare the current market value of all immovable properties owned by the candidates and their immediate relatives.

The Indian Express has accessed copies of the declarations made by Amarinder and his wife Preneet Kaur for the 2004 and 2009 Lok Sabha elections, by Preneet as Minister of State to the PMO in 2009, and by Amarinder for the present election. Many of the properties carry the same value in all affidavits. A 41-bigha plot in Shimla has always cost Rs 10 lakh; a 65,000 sq ft one in Hardwar (UP) remains Rs 13.80 lakh; the New Moti Bagh Palace spanning 160 bighas in Patiala is still worth Rs 35 crore. A flat in Dubai, not mentioned in 2004 but declared for the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, has been worth Rs 80 lakh ever since.

In contrast, Parkash Singh Badal of the SAD has kept updating the values of his immovable assets. In 2007, Badal declared the value of his residential house at Badal as Rs 31.03 lakh; in the present declaration he has updated it to Rs 50 lakh. The market value of his Bank Building at Killoanwali village at Punjab, Rs 17.45 lakh in 2007, is now Rs 23.25 lakh.

One of Amarinder’s legal advisers, who wished not to be named, said, “It is neccessary to declare the assets. We have not hidden anything,” he said. “As for ascertaining the curent value, the district magistrate can do it.”