CHENNAI: Former Congress MLA of Velachery constituency, JMH Aassan Maulaana, has been disqualified from contesting elections for three years by the Election Commission of India for failing to lodge true and correct account of his election expenses during the 2021 Assembly poll.
The disqualification order, passed on August 19 under Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act (1951), bars him from being chosen as, or being, a member of Parliament or a state legislature for three years. Maulaana currently does not have any Assembly seat to lose as he completed his 2021-26 term and lost from Velachery in the 2026 election.
According to the ECI order, Maulaana had declared election expenditure of Rs 17,03,548. However, the Chennai District Election Officer (DEO) found that Rs 32,05,915 spent on newspaper advertisements promoting his candidature had not been included in the expenses
TNCC issued and paid for advertisements, says ex-MLA
Adding the amount would take his expenditure to Rs 49,09,463, well above the Rs 30.8-lakh ceiling applicable to an Assembly candidate at the time. The advertisements, published in 10 newspapers during the 2021 campaign, carried Maulaana’s name, photograph and the Congress hand symbol and appealed to voters to support him in Velachery, the ECI found.
Maulaana maintained that the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee issued and paid for the advertisements, and that he had neither authorised nor approved them. He said they were part of the Congress campaign during Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Tamil Nadu and were intended to support candidates of the DMK-led alliance. The DEO and expenditure observer, however, concluded that the advertisements specifically promoted his candidature.
Speaking to TNIE, Maulaana said he would challenge the order in court, and questioned the delay in concluding the proceedings. He referred to Election Commission instructions, issued in the light of a Karnataka High Court judgment against undue delay in Section 10A proceedings, which prescribe a one-year deadline for disposal of cases relating to election-expense accounts.
“The ECI initiated proceedings against me years ago, and I had submitted my explanation. But action has now been taken five years after the election. I will challenge the order legally,” he said.
Maulaana alleged that the action against him was politically motivated and accused the BJP-led centre of targeting Congress leaders, particularly those from minority communities.
