Madras High Court probes whether ₹30 crore asset gap in Vijay's affidavit is a corrupt practice

In a hearing at the Madras High Court, Justice V Lakshminarayanan examined whether the failure to list ₹30 crore of assets in Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay’s election affidavit could be deemed a corrupt practice, given his declared total of roughly ₹600 crore. The judge raised the possibility that a mistake by the chartered accountant who prepared the statement might warrant setting aside the election result. He also asked if such an omission could have influenced the electorate, especially since Vijay won the Perambur seat by more than 50,000 votes.

The challenge was brought by voter S Dinesh, who claims the affidavit contains several inaccuracies, including disputed land in Vilpatti and inconsistencies about a Porur property. Vijay’s counsel, Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, argued the petition lacks the necessary specifics and does not show any impact on the outcome. The court scheduled further arguments for the following day.