Candidates undervalue assets in poll affidavits, claims report of NGO

Dr Sudarshan, Trustee of Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Coordinator for Tamil Nadu Election Watch, said the results of the analysis of the affidavits of the 57 out of 62 candidates threw no surprises. 

“What we saw is that many of the candidates have undervalued their assets. But our aim here is to make people aware, encourage them to vote for qualified candidates rather than swindlers or those who don’t work for the interests of the people,” he said, hoping that people will vote with their hearts and minds, rather than taking money. 

“Giving and taking money for votes is an offense. Hope the Election Commission takes action on both the parties,” he added. 

Jayaram Venkatesan of Arappor Iyakkam, which had also worked on the report, said that the assets of most candidates were severely undervalued. “For example, TTV Dinakaran had said that the Adyar property has 8,726 sq ft of land and 7,500 sq ft of constructed area. He had declared that this was worth 1.13 crores in the affidavit. If you look at the guideline value of land rate set by the government, the property is worth Rs 5.4 crore in total and this is a conservative estimate. Now, coming to the market rate – the actual worth of the property in today’s market, it is Rs 15,000/sq ft. Based on this, the Adyar property is worth at least Rs 12.9 crore. Similarly, E Madhusudhanan has pegged his 3.11-acre property at Thirunindravur near Avadi for Rs 15 lakh. Based on the guideline value, which we checked using the survey numbers stated in the affidavit, the value of this property is Rs 4.38 crore. Based on the market value, it comes up to almost Rs 20 crore. These are not the only offenders as most other candidates too have done similar undervaluation,” pointed out the activist. 

Jayaram also added that they will be filing a complaint with the Returning Officer, regarding the undervalued assets stated in the affidavits on April 6. Deepa Seshadri, a volunteer with ADR and Arappor, said that once the complaint is filed with the RO, it would take a legal angle. “An FIR will be filed and it will become an investigative case, where the judiciary will also get involved. We are pressing for a fast track court to hear these cases, so that we arrive at a conclusion within three months, enough time to take action,” she concluded.