Velachery ex-Cong MLA barred for 3 yrs for hiding poll spend

CHENNAI: Former Velachery MLA and Congress leader JMH Aassan Maulaana has been barred from contesting elections for three years by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for failing to submit a true and correct account of his election expenses during the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly poll.

Issuing the order under Sections 77 and 78 of the Representation of the People Act, the ECI held that Maulaana failed to account for expenditure incurred on newspaper advertisements published during his campaign.

While Maulaana had declared a total poll expenditure of Rs 17,03,548, scrutiny by Chennai district election authorities revealed that advertisements published in 10 newspapers were omitted from his account.

Responding to a notice from the District Election Officer (DEO) on whether the ads were published to promote his candidature, Maulaana denied authorising them, claiming the Congress had independently borne the cost.

However, the DEO and Expenditure Observer noted that the advertisements prominently featured Maulaana's name, photograph, and the party's hand symbol, along with a direct appeal to vote for the "Velachery Congress candidate Aassan Maulaana JMH". Symbols of other alliance partners were absent.

Consequently, the DEO determined that Rs 32,05,915 spent on these advertisements had been suppressed. Adding this sum brought his total election expense to Rs 49,09,463, far exceeding the prescribed ceiling of Rs 30.80 lakh for an Assembly constituency.

Accepting these findings, the ECI concluded that the former lawmaker failed to lodge a true account within the stipulated time and manner prescribed by law.

The three-year disqualification debars Maulaana from being chosen as, or being, a member of either House of Parliament or the State legislature