The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a fresh writ petition seeking direction for an enquiry and submission of a status report, prior to polling, into the assets disclosed by actor and Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) chief Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar for the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan rejected the plea filed by Chennai resident MP Venkatesh on the grounds that it was already seized of a separate writ petition raising substantially similar issues regarding alleged discrepancies in the election affidavits submitted by the TVK chief.
In the earlier proceedings, the High Court had issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Income Tax (IT) department on April 20, in connection with the allegations of undisclosed assets exceeding Rs 100 crore in the Form 26 affidavit filed by Vijay for the Perambur constituency.
In the present plea, the petitioner sought a time-bound preliminary enquiry by multiple statutory authorities, including the IT department, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), and the Election Commission, into the alleged suppression and misrepresentation of financial disclosures made in the nomination papers.
The petition specifically referred to a loan of Rs 12.6 crore extended to the candidate’s spouse and a transfer of Rs 20 crore to a trust, contending that these transactions lacked adequate disclosure regarding their nature, source of funds, and underlying financial structure.
The plea alleged that such disclosures reflected financial obfuscation, mischaracterisation of transactions, and suppression of material particulars, thereby undermining the statutory requirement of full and true disclosure under the prescribed Form 26 affidavit.
It further contended that incomplete or misleading disclosures would amount to deemed non-disclosure in law, attracting violation of Section 33A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and potential penal consequences under Section 125A of the Act.
The petitioner also argued that such non-compliance would adversely impact the electorate’s right to make an informed choice.
Vijay, who floated the TVK in 2024, is making his electoral debut in 2026 from the Perambur constituency in Chennai and Tiruchirappalli East in central Tamil Nadu.