Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Sanjay Tandon, 60, on Friday filed his nomination papers for the Chandigarh Lok Sabha seat at the Deputy Commissioner office in Sector 17 after a flamboyant show of strength with a city-wide roadshow.

Accompanied by MP Kirron Kher, party’s local unity chief Jatinder Pal Malhotra, former mayor Anup Gupta and Lt General HS Panag (retd), Tandon submitted his nomination to deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya.

Former BJP state president Arun Sood waited with party workers and leaders outside the DC office. However, former MP Satya Pal Jain and former mayor Davesh Moudgil were conspicuous by their absence.

Tandon, a Lok Sabha poll debutant who is contesting against two-time Congress MP Manish Tewari, declared both moveable and immovable assets, including those of his spouse, worth ₹87 crore in his nomination papers.

A second generation politician, Tandon also declared assets worth ₹24 crore under the Hindu Undivided Family (HUF), taking his total worth to ₹111 crore. According to the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, an individual born in an HUF has legal right over his ancestral property. Therefore, he is a coparcener (joint heir) by birth.

Though a “crorepati”, Tandon, a chartered accountant by profession, also revealed total liability of ₹5.5 crore.

President of the UT Cricket Association, Tandon’s Competent Group has verticals in accounting, auditing, stock and commodity broking, etc.

He also carries out various social activities through his NGOs Competent Foundation and Balramji Das Tandon Charitable Foundation.

Among his immovable assets ( ₹35.06 crore) are agriculture land worth ₹4.8 crore, and residential properties worth ₹13.5 crore in Chandigarh’s Sector 18-D and Mohali’s Phase 8.

Tandon also owns non-agriculture land worth ₹12.50 crore in Mohali’s Phase 7 and shares worth ₹1.12 crore in commercial buildings in Chandigarh’s Sector 17.

He possesses 82 gm gold and four expensive watches, with a total value of ₹15.40 lakh. His wife, Priya Tandon, the daughter of late chief justice of India Madan Mohan Punchhi, also owns 1,402 gm gold, 4,800 gm silver, 148 carat diamonds and three watches, with a total value of ₹1.14 crore.

Though Sanjay Tandon is seen riding expensive cars in the city, he declared no motor vehicle, aircraft, yatch or ship.

Hoping to score a hat-trick for the saffron party in the June 1 election, Tandon has no criminal record.

Before heading towards Sector 17, Tandon, along with his family members and senior BJP’s leaders, performed a havan, which was attended by Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, at party office Kamlam in Sector 33.

Following the havan, Tandon visited Gurdwara Shri Guru Teg Bahadur Sahib in Sector 34, before initiating the road show. As the entourage passed through different sectors, Tandon paid obeisance at Parshuram Bhawan in Sector 37, Satya Sai Baba Temple in Sector 30, and Baba Balak Nath Mandir and Sai Temple in Sector 29.

The road show traversed through Sectors 34, 35, 36, 37, 24, 23, 22, 21, 19, 30, 29, 28, 27, 19 and 18, before reaching Sector 17, where Tandon stepped into the DC office to file his papers.

He later said, “I am indebted by the love and support showered by people on me. Their trust is a testament to people’s faith in the Modi government model. After becoming MP, I promise to deliver in five years what would normally take 50 years.”

Two more candidates file nominations

Besides Sanjay Tandon, two more candidates filed nominations from the Chandigarh seat on Friday, taking the total candidates in fray, as of now, to five.

As per the Election Commission of India (ECI), candidates can file their nominations till May 14 and candidature can be withdrawn on May 17 after scrutiny of papers.

Sunil Thaman from Haryana Jansena Party, 63, is an auditor by profession and owns assets worth ₹1.32 crore, including those of his spouse. This includes houses in Zirakpur and Kasauli, 40 tola gold and other investments. He is residing in Chandigarh’s Sector 8 and has liabilities of ₹43 lakh.

The second candidate, Pushpinder Singh, 47, a resident of Attawa, is contesting independently. A Class 12 pass-out, Singh, as well his wife, is unemployed and owns ₹2.98 lakh in assets. Both candidates have no criminal record.