CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed writ petitions seeking probes into alleged discrepancies in the election affidavit asset disclosures of Chief Minister Vijay, Udhayanidhi Stalin, and BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan, holding that such issues can be raised only through election petitions.
When the matters came up for hearing before the Division Bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, Niranjan Rajagopal, appearing for the Election Commission, submitted that any challenge relating to disclosures made in nomination papers could only be adjudicated through an election petition. He further pointed out that several similar petitions seeking identical reliefs had previously been dismissed.
Accepting the submissions, the Division Bench dismissed all three writ petitions.
One of the petitions was filed by V Vignesh, a voter from the Perambur constituency and a resident of Vyasarpadi. In his plea, he stated that Vijay had declared assets worth Rs 115.13 crore in the affidavit filed for the Perambur constituency, while disclosing assets worth Rs 220.15 crore in the affidavit submitted for the Tiruchy (East) constituency.
The petitioner contended that Vijay had not explained the substantial difference in the asset values declared in the two affidavits and argued that it amounted to suppression of material facts. He sought a direction to the Director General of Income Tax (DGIT) and the Election Commission of India to verify the accuracy and completeness of the asset disclosures.
Another writ petition was filed by R Kumaravel, a resident of the Chepauk–Triplicane Assembly constituency, alleging discrepancies in Udhayanidhi's election affidavits. The petitioner stated that Udhayanidhi had declared an investment of Rs 7.36 crore in Red Giant Movies in 2021, but the investment was absent in his 2026 affidavit, which instead disclosed a Rs.2.63 crore investment by his spouse in the company, without any explanation for the change.
Claiming that false or incomplete asset disclosures violate the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and the voters’ right to information, the petitioner sought a direction to the DGIT (Investigation) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to conduct a comprehensive inquiry.
The third petition, filed by Goutham Siva, alleged discrepancies in the financial disclosures made by Tamilisai Soundararajan in 2024 and 2026. It was contended that the assets declared by Soundararajan and her husband in 2024 differed from those disclosed by them in 2026.