It's so obvious that this is a shadow game related to Mahua's criticism of Adani. She is continuing with her attacks and said that she has rejected Gautam Adani's offer of backchannel talks.
Let's look at the law here. Section 125A of Representation of People’s Act:
“[125A. Penalty for filing false affidavit, etc.—A candidate who himself or through his proposer, with intent to be elected in an Election ,—...
(iii) conceals any information, in his nomination paper...or in his affidavit ...shall...be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.].”
The key question here is the meaning of the word "conceals". One side will allege knowing concealment and the other will say it was an innocent mistake.
How come this complaint was filed only after Mahua started criticising Adani on Twitter? What was the complainant doing before that? We need to know the bona fides of the complainant first.
So? The issue here is why Mahua Moitra did not disclose her directorship in Villerville and the income generated by Villerville. Kant is a retired IAS officer and she is a serving MP. Also, the co-director of Villerville is the standing counsel for Bengal, so a direct conflict.
Not a big deal and no need for a "contested" tag or for any investigation. It's very simple:
- HNIs (including politicians) are often directors in various companies. Sometimes they don't even know it. Their financial advisors handle everything. It is an innocent mistake by Mahua that she forgot to disclose it.
- Suhaan has never hidden his political connections. It's not illegal or unethical for him to be close to a certain party and to be Mahua's election agent. Many Law School alumni have political connections and affiliations. So what???
- Regarding the relationship between Mahua and Suhaan, they are both from elite families in Kolkata. They have common friends, common social circles, common club memberships. So what's the big deal if they know each other? There is no political angle in this.
- Regarding the LI reader comments, some jealous people who cannot digest the success of others are after someone's life for something that happened at Law School many years ago. We all make mistakes in college.
I did some Googling and dug out the fact below. But can anyone connect the dots? Suhaan was Mahua's election agent as far back as 2016 and brought her on board Villerville way back in 2010. How do they know each other so well? Family friends? Business partners?
1) 2009: Mahua joins the Congress. Working with Rahul Gandhi.
2) 2009: Suhaan joins Villerville Financial Advisors Private Limited, Kolkata, as a director. The contact email of the company is given as suhaan@gmail.com. The other director is his father Swaroop Mukerji, a famous painter.
“[125A. Penalty for filing false affidavit, etc.—A candidate who himself or through his proposer, with intent to be elected in an Election ,—...
(iii) conceals any information, in his nomination paper...or in his affidavit ...shall...be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine, or with both.].”
The key question here is the meaning of the word "conceals". One side will allege knowing concealment and the other will say it was an innocent mistake.
- HNIs (including politicians) are often directors in various companies. Sometimes they don't even know it. Their financial advisors handle everything. It is an innocent mistake by Mahua that she forgot to disclose it.
- Suhaan has never hidden his political connections. It's not illegal or unethical for him to be close to a certain party and to be Mahua's election agent. Many Law School alumni have political connections and affiliations. So what???
- Regarding the relationship between Mahua and Suhaan, they are both from elite families in Kolkata. They have common friends, common social circles, common club memberships. So what's the big deal if they know each other? There is no political angle in this.
- Regarding the LI reader comments, some jealous people who cannot digest the success of others are after someone's life for something that happened at Law School many years ago. We all make mistakes in college.
Just chill, haters.
I did some Googling and dug out the fact below. But can anyone connect the dots? Suhaan was Mahua's election agent as far back as 2016 and brought her on board Villerville way back in 2010. How do they know each other so well? Family friends? Business partners?
1) 2009: Mahua joins the Congress. Working with Rahul Gandhi.
2) 2009: Suhaan joins Villerville Financial Advisors Private Limited, Kolkata, as a director. The contact email of the company is given as suhaan@gmail.com. The other director is his father Swaroop Mukerji, a famous painter.
https://www.zaubacorp.com/director/SUHAAN-MUKERJI/00227234
3) 2010: Mahua joins TMC.
4) 2010: Mahua joins Villerville as director
https://www.thecompanycheck.com/people-profile/mahua-moitra/02854832
5) June 2013: LI reports that Suhaan quits AMSS "lobbying" job to join Congress govt as advisor (do read the comments by LI readers 😳)
https://www.legallyindia.com/law-firms/amarchand-suhaan-mukerji-joins-pmo-20130605-3723
6) Nov 2013: LI reports that Suhaan starts own "ethical lobbying" firm
https://www.legallyindia.com/law-firms/suhaan-mukerji-starts-law-firm-clean-lobbying-pro-bono-20131122-4132
7) 2016: Mahua files election ticket for WB Assembly poll, with Suhaaan named as her election agent.
http://www.wbsec.gov.in/(S(rkogahnhd1xem555bbi0pb55))/writereaddata/CEOASSEMBLY/Declarations2016/AccountAbstract/77.AITC.ACCOUNT%20ABSTRACT0001.pdf
8) 2016: Mahua elected as MLA to the WB assembly
9) 2019: Mahua elected to the Lok Sabha
10) At least 2021, but most likely earlier: Suhaan appointed as Standing Counsel of WB, also defending Abhishek Banerjee in Bengal coal scam.
https://twitter.com/barandbench/status/1419950501324410886?lang=en
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/coal-scam-case-question-tmc-mp-abhishek-banerjee-wife-in-kolkata-sc-tells-ed-west-bengal-mamata-banerjee-7921957/