My taxable income dipped to Rs 680 due to Covid-19 losses: BJP's Chandrasekhar

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 11 (PTI) Thiruvananthapuram BJP Lok Sabha candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Thursday that his taxable income for the financial year 2021-22 sharply reduced to just Rs 680 due to the losses he suffered during the Covid-19 period.

Pitted against sitting MP and Congress Working Committee member Shashi Tharoor in the key south Kerala constituency, Chandrasekhar criticised the grand old party saying it plans to run a campaign about his taxable income in the year 2021-22.

Presenting what he stated were "facts" on the matter, Chandrasekhar wrote on social media platform X: "I have ONLY been in public life for several years and my income is derived ONLY from MP/minister salary, perks, and interest/dividend from savings/investments." "In the year 2021-2022, my taxable income was sharply reduced because of partnership (in his businesses) losses incurred during the Covid period," he said.

His clarification came after the Election Commission directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to verify any mismatch in the affidavit details submitted by Chandrasekhar.

Chandrasekhar is contesting in the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency against Congress's Tharoor and LDF candidate CPI's Pannyan Raveendran.

The Congress had moved the poll panel complaining that there is a mismatch between the actual assets of Chandrasekhar and those that he has declared in his election affidavit.

Any mismatch and falsification of affidavit are dealt with under Section 125 A of The Representation of the People Act 1951, they said.

As per the law, concealing any information in the nomination papers or affidavits is punishable with imprisonment for a term that may extend to six months, or a fine, or both.

According to the affidavit filed along with the nomination papers, Chandrasekhar's total income shown in the 2022-23 Income Tax return is Rs 5,59,200, while it was Rs 680 for the year 2021-22.

In his post on X, the BJP candidate said his 18-year career in public life has been "totally free from any blemish", and accused Congress leaders of making attempts to tarnish his reputation after he was fielded by his party from Thiruvananthapuram.

"Irony certainly died when Cong whose first family is on trial for stealing properties and transferring it to their name surreptitiously and other shenanigans and a candidate who had to resign as minister for his illegal IPL 'interests' start talking abt disclosures and taxation.

"This obvious attempt to distract voters from main issues of Progress, Development, Jobs, Skills, Investments will NOT work", Chandrasekhar wrote on X, taking a dig at Tharoor who was forced to quit as union minister from the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-II government in 2010 following a controversy over the IPL Kochi franchise. PTI