BJP TN chief moves HC challenging Kanimozhi's election

BJP's Tamil Nadu unit president Tamilisai Soundarajan, who lost to DMK leader M Kanimozhi in the Lok Sabha polls, has moved the Madras High Court challenging her election on grounds of alleged suppression of income and tax status of her family members. In her petition, she also contended that an FIR filed on a poll-related complaint disclosed a cognisable offence by Kanimozhi and her agents and prayed the court to declare the DMK leader's election as null and void.

Soundarajan had contested the April 18 polls in Tamil Nadu from Tuthookudi constituency and she lost to her nearest rival Kanimozhi by a margin of over 3.47 lakh votes. The petitioner submitted that Kanimozhi in her election affidavit had shown her husband K Aravindhan and son Adithyan as foreign nationals (Singapore) who did not have Permanent Account Numbers (PAN).

In the column of income tax return and the total income in rupees during the last five years, she declared it as not applicable, the election petition said. Contending that the declaration filed by Kanimozhi was materially defective, Soundarajan said she ought to have given the National Registration Identity Card number, given by Government of Singapore, which is equivalent to the PAN.

Similarly, Kanimozhi ought to have disclosed the income received by her husband and her son as per the returns filed by them with Government of Singapore. "By wilfully failing to submit information with regard to the tax status of her husband and son in Singapore and the income received by them, Kanimozhi has filed a false affidavit which materially affects the result of the election," she said.

The returning officer's action of accepting the nomination of Kanimozhi was improper and he should have rejected it, the petitioner submitted. She also claimed that as was evident from the details of movable property, Kanimozhi's son had invested a substantial amount of money by way of fixed deposit in the Indian Bank branch at R A Puram here and in two banks in Singapore.

In such circumstances, it was inconceivable that Adithyan does not have a PAN or has not filed income tax return in India, she added. Alleging that there was deliberate suppression of information by Kanimozhi, she sought to strike down her election.