Somsak Sukprasert, a candidate of the Palang Pracharat Party (PPRP) in Constituency 5 of Sakon Nakhon, has threatened legal action against a Future Forward Party (FFP) candidate in the province for falsely accusing him of owning shares in a media firm in defiance of the election law.
Mr Somsak said he was consulting the party's executives over whether he should pursue legal action against Apichit Thaboot, of the FFP.
The accusation by Mr Apichit was untrue, he said, as it was a case of mistaken identity.
He said the Somsak Sukprasert who Mr Apichit was referring to, who holds shares in a media firm in Sai Mai district of Bangkok, was not him.
Mr Somsak insisted that there are many Somsak Sukpraserts with the same spelling in Thai.
Natthini Talapthong, owner of Media Marketing Co, clarified in recent media reports that the Somsak Sukprasert who owns shares in her company is actually her grandson who is 24 years old, not the 62-year-old former PPRP election candidate in Sakon Nakhon.
Ms Natthini said she did not know politician Somsak personally.
She said she had to stand up and tell the public the truth about the shareholding issue because she was afraid it might hurt her business if she stayed quiet.
Mr Somsak reiterated he had no connection to any media company as alleged.
His critic claimed he owned shares in breach of the Election Act's Section 42.
Mr Somsak said the FFP should have checked the 13-digit citizenship ID number of his namesake to make sure it was the same Somsak before petitioning the election regulator.
Meanwhile, Nataphol Teepsuwan, a deputy leader of the People's Power Party, on Thursday responded to allegations by FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit that Mr Nataphol also holds shares in two companies operating printing businesses.
Mr Nataphol said he is ready for any investigation and challenged Thanathorn to raise the issue for investigation with the Election Commission as he was sure it would go nowhere.
