Chennai: Income tax (I-T) department has informed Madras high court that a suo motu verification of all election affidavits filed by candidates will commence once election results are announced as per the SOP.“The investigation directorate is accorded 150 days from the date of initiation to complete the entire verification,” said senior standing counsel for the department A P Srinivas in a counter filed on a plea seeking an income tax probe into alleged discrepancies in assets declared by Udhayanidhi Stalin in his affidavit for the 2026 Assembly election.The income tax returns (ITRs) filed by the candidates for respective financial years do not capture or reflect investments and loans as on the exact date of filing of the affidavits. In view of this temporal incongruity between the affidavit dates and the ITRs, a direct and conclusive comparison cannot be undertaken at this juncture without a detailed verification, the counter added.“It is further submitted that, upon verification of the ITRs filed by Udhayanidhi for the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25, it is observed that the returns have been filed in ITR-2 form, which does not contain a balance sheet,” the standing counsel said. The I-T department added that in the absence of such financial disclosures in the balance sheet, it is not possible, at this juncture, to ascertain the quantum of any investment as on the date of filing of the election affidavit for 2026.Therefore, the department asked the court to provide reasonable time to verify the issues for which relevant financials are not readily available.
