A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court alleging that Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar has filed false affidavits in his nomination form for contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Thiruvananthapuram constituency.
The public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Congress leader Avani Bansal and Renjith Thomas in their petition alleged that Rajeev Chandrasekhar deliberately omitted his assets including his properties, luxury cars and private jets and also grossly undervalued his shares in various companies.
“The nomination submitted by the 4th respondent (Chandrasekhar) is in utter and repeated violation of the relevant provision of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1950, the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, and as per the compendium given on the Election Commission of India’s website,” the petition says.
It is alleged that no action has been taken by the Election Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer even after prima facie evidence was given against Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar regarding the filing of a false affidavit along with the nomination paper.
In their plea, the petitioners further say that the Returning Officer is duty-bound to give a speaking order against the complaint raised against Minister Rajeev Chandrashekar regarding the filing of the false affidavit. It was alleged that the status of the complaint on the website of the Election Commission of India merely shows admission without giving a written reasoned response to the complaint.
The returning officer not providing a reasoned order in response to their complaint violates their right to know whether the allegations in the complaint have been accepted or denied, it was argued.
The petitioners sought a direction to the Election Officer to pass a reasoned order on the complaint filed by the petitioners regarding the filing of the false affidavit by Minister Rajeev Chandrasekar.
The plea will be heard by a Bench of Justices VG Arun and S Manu on Tuesday.