CHENNAI: “There appear to be some irregularities, as about Rs 100 crore was not disclosed in the election affidavit,” the Madras high court said on Monday while directing actor and TVK founder Vijay, the income tax department and the Election Commission of India to respond to a plea alleging discrepancies in the election affidavits filed by him.He allegedly declared assets valued at Rs 115.13 crore in the affidavit filed in Perambur constituency and Rs 220.15 crore in Trichy (East) constituency.Admitting the plea on Monday, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan adjourned the hearing by a week for the authorities and Vijay to file their responses.According to V Vignesh, a voter from Perambur constituency, while Vijay declared assets valued at Rs 115.13 crore in the affidavit filed in Perambur constituency, he declared assets valued at Rs 220.15 crore in Trichy (East) constituency.He wanted the court to direct the authorities to publish the report to the public on or before April 23, the polling date for the Tamil Nadu Assembly. A comparative and sequential scrutiny of the affidavits filed by Vijay in Trichy (East) and Chennai-Perambur constituencies discloses multiple layers of inconsistencies which, each in itself, raise grave concerns and, taken together, clearly make out a prima facie case warranting investigation by the Income Tax Department, he said.He added that the petition is instituted in exceptional circumstances, wherein the disclosures made by Vijay in his statutory affidavits under Form 26 as mandated under Rule 4A of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, are not only incomplete but are prima facie false, inconsistent with statutory records and indicative of a deliberate and systematic suppression of material financial information.
