This Candidate Has Rs 1.76 Lakh Crore In Hand, A World Bank Loan Of Rs 4 Lakh Crore And Some Serious Questions

The Election Commission is considered to be one of the most error-free institutions in India. But there is one person who has taken the challenge to point out the loopholes in the process that are used by the candidates to give false information to the commission.??

The existing rules laid out by the election commission state that all candidates, independent or backed by political parties should declare their assets, both movable and immovable, including cash in had hand and liabilities to the Commission in an affidavit.

This is then accepted as an official document and goes into the records. But till now there is no provision for the Election Commission to examine or verify the assets and liabilities declared by the candidates, and whatever the candidate says in his declaration is accepted.

Given this fact, an independent candidate from Tamil Nadu has raised some serious questions on the credibility of the entire process.?

Jebamani Mohanraj, who claims to be a candidate of the Jebamani Janata Party for the? Perambur Assembly by-poll scheduled for April 18 has in his election affidavit stated that he has Rs 1.76 lakh crore cash in hand and that he has a loan of Rs 4 lakh crore from the World Bank.

Jebamani Mohanraj/ Facebook

No, this is not a typo or oversight. Mohanraj, who is an anti-corruption crusader claims he wanted to expose the Election Commission and its scrutiny of candidate affidavits.

Unsurprisingly the Election Commission has accepted his candidature and allotted him 'green chilly' as the poll symbol.

"You can declare whatever you want in the affidavit. The Election Commission will do nothing," he claimed.

If that 'Rs 1.76 lakh crore' rings a bell, you are not alone. This is the same amount the then CAG had calculated as the 'presumptive loss' in the 2G scam.

Incidentally, this is not the first time Mohanraj has filed election affidavits with ludicrous amounts as assets. By his own admission, in 2009 Lok Sabha elections he had declared assets of Rs 1,977 crore and in the 2016 Assembly elections, he declared Rs 1.76 lakh crore assets and declared immovable properties at Kodanad Estate worth R 1,500 crore.

So, what is he trying to achieve with his stunts?

According to Mohanraj, he is creating awareness among the public on how rich politicians exploit the loopholes in the system and get away without declaring their full wealth.

"This was done to protect a political bigwig who had concealed information about his assets while filing nomination from a Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu," he claimed.

According to the current system, there is no provision for scrutiny of the affidavit. But last month the Election Commission had proposed to publicly disclose discrepancies in assets filed by candidates.

According to an Economic Times report, the EC and CBDT have already agreed upon the ‘verification format’ and will disclose the names of candidates in whose election affidavit discrepancies have been found and also make public under which Act/law action is being taken.?