New Delhi: The Congress on Friday alleged that the Union minister of electronics and information technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, has declared false information about his assets and income in his election affidavit.
Avani Bansal, advocate and Congress worker, urged the Returning Officer, Geromic George – who is District Collector of Thiruvananthapuram – to reject his nomination on the basis of providing false information in his election affidavit.
Bansal alleged that Chandrasekhar, also a renowned industrialist, has told the Election Commission of India that he has filed only Rs 680 as income tax returns in 2021-22 and “grossly misrepresented” his movable (Rs 9.25 crores) and immovable assets (Rs 14.4 crores). Chandrasekhar in his election affidavit has said that he owns only a single bike purchased in 1994 for Rs 10,000, while his profession was “social service”.
Moreover, Bansal said that the Union minister hasn’t disclosed his major shareholdings in Jupiter Capital and “has only declared subsidiary companies to hide the complex web of companies” that he directly or indirectly owned.
Bansal also accused Chandrasekhar of being a “repeat offender” as he had also provided false information in his election affidavit during his election to the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka in April, 2018. Thomas had alleged that Chandrasekhar had deliberately hidden details about owning a “house, luxury cars and private jets”.
He had also said that his Rajya Sabha election affidavit “grossly undervalued” the shares held by him in different companies. Chandrasekhar had declared the value of his shares in four holding companies to be Rs 6.38 crores but according to Thomas, they were valued by the ministry of corporate affairs to be Rs 1610.53 crores. Chandrasekhar had also valued his assets to be worth Rs 36.12 crores but Thomas had calculated those to be worth around thousands of crores.
Representing a Bengaluru-based software professional Renjith Thomas, Bansal had then moved the high court to challenge Chandrasekhar’s election affidavit. On Friday, Bansal said that the ECI, based on Thomas’s PIL at the court, had forwarded the complaint against Chandrasekhar to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) in 2019 but no action was taken since then.
In her letter to the district election officer Geromic George, Bansal said that Chandrasekhar’s declared his income tax returns as only Rs 680 in 2021-22 and around Rs 5.5 lakh in 2022-23, which was highly suspect for a person who is widely known as one of the richest members of parliament.
“Rajeev Chandrasekhar is declaring his profession or occupation to be social service. This means he is not a business person at all and therefore not a director in any company, although his company Jupiter Capital’s website lists him with his picture in leadership role,” Bansal said.
Moreover, Bansal said that Chandrasekhar’s affidavit also “doesn’t disclose that he is the owner and not just the resident of Plot No. 408, 2nd A Cross, III Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru – 560034”, while posting his property tax receipts.
2/ Mr. Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s Affidavit doesn’t disclose that he is the owner and not just the resident of Plot No. 408, 2nd A Cross, III Block, Koramangala, Bengaluru – 560034.
Here are the property tax receipts. #FalseAffidavit #RajeevChandrasekhar… pic.twitter.com/0wtsOT4s6t
— Avani Bansal (@bansalavani) April 5, 2024
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She later said that the election officer has the power to reject an application if the affidavit is found to be false, and urged him to verify Chandrasekhar’s affidavit and act accordingly.
Attempts by The Wire to reach Chandrasekhar over phone failed. The story will be updated if and when his response comes.
