The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday informed the Madras High Court that it shall launch criminal prosecution against candidates who had submitted false information in the affidavits submitted by them while filing nominations for the recently-held Assembly election in the State.
The submission was made before Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy during the hearing of a case filed by B. Ramamoorthy of Vellore. He had accused former AIADMK Minister K.C. Veeramani of having furnished false information regarding his assets.
The petitioner pointed out that he had already filed a writ petition in March this year highlighting the alleged false affidavit filed by the former Minister while contesting from Jollarpet constituency. However, by the time the case got listed for hearing, the last date for rejecting the nominations had expired.
Hence, the court disposed of the case with an observation that the petitioner could challenge the election if Mr. Veeramani wins. Since, the former Minister lost the election, the petitioner gave a representation to the District Election Officer (DEO) and the Returning Officer urging them to prosecute him for the reportedly false affidavit.
The petitioner complained that Tiruppattur Collector-cum-DEO, had on May 26 refused to prosecute the former Minister under Section 125A (punishment for filing false affidavit) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and instead asked the litigant to set the law in motion.
When the case was listed for admission on Monday, the ECI counsel too argued in favour of the stand taken by the DEO. Not convinced, the judges directed the ECI to file it’s counter affidavit within a fortnight. However, later in the day, senior counsel G. Rajagopalan told the court that ECI itself would act on the issue. He said the DEO had relied upon an old circular whereas a latest circular issued on September 16, 2020, makes it clear that the ECI would take a call on launching prosecution on a case-by-case basis.
He said that every candidate contesting election was expected to submit details regarding his criminal antecedents, assets and liabilities, educational qualifications and so on. The reason behind insisting upon submission of those details was to make the voters aware about the background of every candidate before they could make an informed choice on casting their Vote.
The ECI circular issued last year had made it clear that complaints regarding false affidavits would be dealt with by different divisions of the ECI. "After obtaining report from the relevant investigating authorities, Commission may direct the Chief Electoral Officer for filing case under Section 125A of the R.P. Act," he said.
Therefore, Mr. Rajagopalan said the court could pass appropriate orders directing the ECI to take a call on the issue raised by the writ petitioner. Taking note of his submission, the judges directed the High Court Registry to list the case again on Wednesday so that appropriate orders could be passed in the presence of the petitioner's counsel.
