Kochi: The Kerala High Court has rejected the petition seeking rejection of the nomination papers of Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the NDA candidate for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency. The bench of justices VG Arun and S Manu dismissed the petition by stating since the nomination had been accepted if there was any complaint, the only relief was to move a petition after the election.
The Election Commission told the court that it had received the petition and informed the Deputy Director of the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department to probe into the complaint.
Avani Bensal and Ranjit Thomas, a native of Bengaluru, approached the High Court demanding a decision within two days on the complaint. It was alleged that the electoral officer did not take action despite pointing out that Chandrasekhar did not disclose the details of his property in the affidavit filed with the nomination. According to the petition, details of the NDA candidate's house, car and private jet were not provided and the share value of the firms he owned was understated.
The petitioners argued that the complaints received during scrutiny should be taken into consideration to decide whether to accept or reject the nomination. Avani Bensal argued that the electoral officer accepted the nomination without taking such steps and it was wrong as per the Representation of the People Act.
She said that she only received the notification on Monday, about submitting the complaint to the Income Tax Department and that this was deliberately delayed. But the court clarified that if there was a complaint, an election petition could be filed after the poll processes are over.