CHENNAI: The Madras High Court, on Monday, dismissed a fresh petition seeking an inquiry by the Election Commission into the assets declared by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) president actor C Joseph Vijay.
Previously, a petition was filed seeking an Income Tax probe into discrepancies in Vijay's asset declaration. The court had issued notice and sought the I-T Department's response.
Meanwhile, a fresh plea was filed by MP Venkatesh, a resident of Chennai. In his petition, Venkatesh submitted that in his election affidavit, Vijay had declared Rs 12.6 crore loan to his spouse and Rs 20 crore transfer to a trust, without any clear explanation regarding their nature, source or genuineness.
Venkatesh submitted that the disclosures, when read as a whole, reveal a pattern of financial concealment and suppression of material particulars, thereby defeating the statutory requirement of full, true, and meaningful disclosure under Form 26.
The petitioner further submitted that such incomplete and misleading disclosures amount to non-disclosure in law, violate Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, attract penal consequences under Section 125A, and directly infringe the voter's fundamental right to make an informed decision.
When the case came up for hearing before the bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, similar petitions had already been dismissed earlier. Recording the same, the Court dismissed the present writ petition.