PANAJI: The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-profit organisation working for electoral reforms, has found some discrepancies in the affidavits filed by some candidates for the May 19 Panaji assembly bypolls.
ADR state coordinator Bhasker Assoldekar said the association has found that Congress candidate Atanasio Monserrate has declared a different PAN for his wife, Jennifer, in the 2007 affidavit compared to the number declared in his latest 2019 affidavit. The I-T returns for the assessment year 2015-16, declared by Monserrate in 2017, are also different from that declared in the 2019 affidavit.
Similarly AAP candidate Valmiki Naik’s I-T returns for the same assessment year, declared in 2017 and in 2019, have a difference of Rs 1 lakh.
Monserrate’s net worth reduced by almost Rs 9 crore during the past two years. He has shown cash in hand of Rs 33.3 lakh on the date of filing nomination last month and filed I-T returns in 2017-2018 for an amount of Rs 1.7 crore.
Monserrate is also the richest candidate with total assets to the tune of Rs 21 crore, while independent candidate Vijay More declared assets worth Rs 16,000.

None of the candidates except for Monserrate have serious criminal cases against them. Monserrate has ten IPC cases and three cases where charges have been framed against him.
More who is 40, is the youngest candidate while Subhash Velingker at 70 is the oldest candidate.