The Congress on Friday moved the Election Commission (EC) alleging wilful non-disclosure of liabilities by BJP President Amit Shah and sought his disqualification from contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar.
The party also demanded action against Shah for filing a “false affidavit”.
In its complaint, the Congress said that Shah has “once again filed a false affidavit with two glaring omissions.”
“First, with regard to a plot in Gandhinagar and second, with regard to loans taken from a commercial bank by his son for which he is the guarantor,” the Congress said in its complaint.
Citing reports, the party said that Shah has “undervalued the property which as per the government guidelines is valued at (at least) Rs 66.5 lakh but Mr Amit Shah has declared its value at Rs 25 lakh”.
The Congress said that before filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls, Shah had already mortgaged two of his properties (in 2016) to Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank (one of Gujarat’s largest cooperative banks) for his son Jay Shah’s business venture Kusum Finserve.
“The properties were mortgaged in lieu of a large and substantial loan of Rs 25 crore extended by the bank to his son’s company. It is, therefore, a fact that the properties are mortgaged to Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank and hence constitute a liability that should have been declared,” the complaint said.
The party alleged that the omission of liabilities was “deliberate and not inadvertent.”
“The Election Commission of India must take immediate note of this and initiate appropriate proceedings to disqualify Amit Shah from contesting the upcoming elections. Further, the ECI must initiate proceedings against Amit Shah for the filing of a false affidavit,” the Congress said in its complaint.
Attacking the Congress over the allegations, BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said the opposition party and its candidate were trying to malign Shah’s image.
“It seems that Congress leaders are unaware about the basics of elections. That loan was already paid and the mortgaged property was also released. Without doing any inquiry, Congress raised an objection, which was nothing but a childish act. It was a deliberate attempt to malign Shah’s image,” said Pandya.
Amit Shah on March 30 filed his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar after a massive roadshow.
Amit Shah replaces veteran leader LK Advani in Gandhinagar.
Polling for all the 26 seats of Gujarat will take place on April 23.
(With agency inputs)