A public interest litigation has been filed in the Delhi High Court to investigate the election affidavit filed by Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar. The PIL, filed by Bengaluru-based software professional Renjith Thomas, alleges that Chandrasekhar has not disclosed full information in his affidavit about his assets, Live Law reported on Wednesday.

Scroll.in had in March revealed the discrepancies in Chandrasekhar’s affidavit. The affidavit pegged the businessman-turned-politician’s annual income at Rs 28 crore and valued his family assets at Rs 65 crore. Missing from the affidavit, however, was Jupiter Capital, the largest company controlled by Chandrasekhar.

Advertisement

The company’s 2018 filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs report 58 subsidiaries – among them, media companies like Suvarna News, Asianet, Indigo 91.9 FM and Republic; technology firm Axiscades and defence firm Indian Aero Ventures. The company manages, as its website says, a portfolio of investments estimated at over $1 billion (Rs 7,100 crore). In March, 2018, it reported a consolidated gross income of Rs 1,026 crore.

The plea filed in the Delhi High Court alleged that Chandrasekhar had a Land Rover in his own name, as per government records, but has not disclosed the information in his affidavit. It also claimed that Chandrasekhar has not disclosed his wife’s shareholding in one of his companies, Vectra Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd. It said that Chandrasekhar’s wife, Anju, owns 100 shares out of 6,34,360, while another person named Valli Chandrasekhar owns 100 more.

The PIL said Chandrasekhar has also not disclosed two residential properties he owns in Koramangala area in Bengaluru. The petitioner asked the High Court to issue a direction to the Election Commission to use its Constitutional powers under Article 324 to investigate these matters.

Section 125-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, prescribes imprisonment of six months or fine, or both, in case a candidate files a false affidavit.