The Election Commission (EC) has received a complaint alleging that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s 2019 Lok Sabha election affidavit failed to mention her investments in a financial advisory company, and that her post-election expenditure report to the poll panel had incomplete information. The complaint addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar by Shravan Kumar Yadav, who described himself as a “public-spirited person” in the letter, has been received but not reviewed yet, a source in EC said. Moitra was unavailable for a comment. The complaint alleges that Moitra, MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, had not mentioned her 4,900 shares in a company — Villerville Financial Advisors Ltd. — in 2019 election affidavit. In the column for “details of investment in bonds, debentures, shares, units in companies/mutual funds”, she had declared nil, which the complainant said, was in contradiction with the company’s annual returns filed from 2010 to 2022. “The said wilful non-disclosure of her investments in the election affidavit is a material illegality and the same needs to be inquired into,” the complaint stated. It alleged that Moitra’s post-election expenditure report declared a total expenditure of Rs 55.59 lakh, with Rs 99,800 from “own source”, Rs 20 lakh from “party funds” and Rs 23 lakh from donations. “There is no breakup of the remaining funds amounting to Rs 11,59,545 in the affidavit filed.” it said. Citing Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act, which enables EC to disqualify a person for failure to lodge election expenses in the required time and manner, the complaint stated that submitting “false election expenditures may result in issuance of notice by the EC”. The complaint was sent by post from South Delhi on April 25. Complainant Yadav told The Sunday Express that he had received the information through RTI replies. He also denied being associated with any political party.
