The Madras High Court rejected a petition requesting the Income Tax Department to investigate AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K. Palaniswami for allegedly concealing asset and income details in his election nomination papers. Palaniswami, who won the Edappadi Assembly seat in the recent Tamil Nadu elections and became an MLA, faced legal scrutiny due to a voter’s petition filed by Sakthivel Perumal from the constituency. The voter accused Palaniswami of not fully disclosing his assets and income in the affidavit submitted with his nomination papers.
The petitioner highlighted discrepancies between Palaniswami’s affidavits from the 2021 and 2026 Assembly elections, pointing out inconsistencies in asset and income declarations. Alleging the suppression of material information, the petitioner urged the court to direct the Income Tax Department to investigate the alleged omissions and discrepancies. However, the Division Bench, including Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, Aravind Dharmadhikari, and Justice Arul Murugan, ruled that the petition was not maintainable in the current proceedings.
The Bench agreed with the Income Tax Department’s argument that election-related disputes should be addressed through election petitions under relevant laws, not through a writ petition seeking tax investigation directions. Consequently, the Madras High Court dismissed the petition seeking an inquiry against Palaniswami, effectively halting the attempt to initiate a tax probe into the AIADMK leader’s election affidavit disclosures through the court.
