KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition filed by Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Avani Bansal and another person from Bengaluru seeking a directive to the district electoral officer to pass a reasoned order on their complaint alleging that Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the NDA candidate in Thiruvananthapuram, has filed a false affidavit about his assets and income along with his nomination papers.
A division bench comprising Justices V G Arun and Justice S Manu observed, “The question as to whether the returning officer should have passed a reasoned order cannot be decided at this point of time and no direction can be issued to the returning officer to communicate reasons for the decision on the complaint. The remedy of the petitioners if aggrieved by the acceptance of the affidavit filed by one of the candidates, is to challenge the same in an election petition,” the court added.
Avani Bansal argued that the deliberate delay on the part of the returning officer and the district election officer has caused substantial prejudice to her.
Therefore, the officers should be called upon to state the reason as to why no decision was taken on the complaint.
The court responded that its hands were tied as the election process has already commenced.
The counsel for the Election Commission informed that the district election officer has forwarded the complaint of the petitioners to the Deputy Director of Income-tax (Investigation), Thiruvananthapuram for necessary action.