Indian Politician Disqualified from Contesting Elections for Three Years over Unreported Expenses

CHENNAI: Former Congress MLA of Velachery constituency, JMH Aassan Maulaana, has been disqualified from contesting elections for three years by the Election Commission of India for failing to lodge true and correct account of his election expenses during the 2021 Assembly poll. The disqualification order, passed on August 19 under Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act (1951), bars him from being chosen as, or being, a member of Parliament or a state legislature for three years. Maulaana currently does not have any Assembly seat to lose as he completed his 2021-26 term and lost from Velachery in the 2026 election. According to the ECI order, Maulaana had declared election expenditure of Rs 17,03,548. However, the Chennai District Election Officer (DEO) found that Rs 32,05,915 spent on newspaper advertisements promoting his candidature had not been included in the expenses  Adding the amount would take his expenditure to Rs 49,09,463, well above the Rs 30.8-lakh ceiling applicable to an Assembly candidate at the time. The advertisements, published in 10 newspapers during the 2021 campaign, carried Maulaana’s name, photograph and the Congress hand symbol and appealed to voters to support him in Velachery, the ECI found.