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The petitioners alleged that the BJP candidate failed to declare numerous assets in his affidavit, notably his house, luxury cars, and private jets that he owned
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday rejected the plea alleging Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the BJP candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat, submitted a false affidavit regarding his assets and income with his nomination papers for 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.
The plea was filed on April 22 by Avani Bansal, a Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh, and one Ranjith Thomas from Bengaluru. The petitioners sought direction to the district electoral officer to take action on their complaint.
The bench of Justice V G Arun and Justice S Manu said that if the petitioners were dissatisfied with the acceptance of a candidate's affidavit, their recourse was to contest it through an election petition.
The petitioners approached the high court by filing a writ petition stating that the district electoral officer refused to pass an order on their complaints pertaining to Rajeev Chandrasekhar, violating their ‘right to know'.
They alleged that Chandrasekhar failed to declare numerous assets in his affidavit, notably his house, luxury cars, and private jets that he owned.
Additionally, they asserted that the BJP candidate neglected to disclose the accurate book value of his companies as required by the Election Commission of India. While the affidavit listed the book value of the four holding companies at Rs 6.38 crore, documents submitted by these companies to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs indicate a value of Rs 1,610.53 crore. Consequently, they argued that the BJP candidate's asset declaration was inaccurate.
The petitioners contended that the electoral officer's failure to address their grievances constituted a breach of their "right to know" whether the inconsistencies in Chandrasekhar's affidavit had been accepted or dismissed.
Case Title: Avani Bansal v The Election Commission of India
[Inputs: The Hindu]
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