Accusing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah of filing "false affidavit", the Congress party on Friday (April 6) asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to disqualify him from contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar. The party also demanded action against the BJP president for filing a deceptive affidavit.
In its complaint, the Congress said that Amit Shah has "once again filed a false affidavit with two glaring omissions". "First, with regard to a plot in Gandhinagar and second, with regard to loans taken from a commercial bank by his son for which he is the guarantor," the Congress said in its complaint.
Citing reports, the party said that Shah has "undervalued the property which as per the government guidelines is valued at (at least) Rs 66.5 lakh but Amit Shah has declared its value at Rs 25 lakh".
The Congress said that before filing his nomination for the Lok Sabha polls, Shah had already mortgaged two of his properties (in 2016) to Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank (one of Gujarat's largest cooperative banks) for his son Jay Shah's business venture Kusum Finserve.
"The properties were mortgaged in lieu of a large and substantial loan of Rs 25 crore extended by the bank to his son's company. It is, therefore, a fact that the properties are mortgaged to Kalupur Commercial Cooperative Bank and hence constitute a liability that should have been declared," the complaint said.
The party alleged that the omission of liabilities was "deliberate and not inadvertent".
"The Election Commission of India must take immediate note of this and initiate appropriate proceedings to disqualify Amit Shah from contesting the upcoming elections. Further, the ECI must initiate proceedings against Amit Shah for the filing of a false affidavit," the Congress mentioned in its complaint.
(Inputs from agencies)
