A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on April 23 dismissed a writ 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, Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, has filed a false affidavit about his assets and income along with his nomination papers.
The Bench comprising Justice V.G. Arun and Justice S. Manu, while dismissing the petition, observed that “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 him to communicate reasons for the decision on the complaint at this point of time.”
“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.
