Polls over, rich Telangana MPs and politicos under I-T lens

HYDERABAD: The income tax (I-T) department has served notices to both newly elected MPs and those who contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Congress, TRS and BJP in Telangana after finding that many of them had shown an increase of Rs 2 crore or more in immovable assets. In some cases, the growth in assets was phenomenal.
Sources said notices were issued after receiving specific information from the Election Commission (EC). The EC studied affidavits of candidates in previous polls as well as this time to detect any change.

Tax officials also checked the veracity of the affidavits of the MPs by comparing their I-T returns with disclosures they made in the affidavits.They also looked at instances where there were no PAN details but movable and immovable assets had increased by more than Rs 5 crore.
MPs with no PAN also served notice
The I-T department also served notices in cases where new immovable assets worth more than Rs 2 crore were created in the last affidavit. MPs and contestants who have no PAN and had failed to file returns were also served notices.
Nizamabad MP Aravind Dharmapuri told TOI, “I received a notice last week. It is a general notice. I assume that this exercise is aimed at bringing in more transparency. I have replied to the notice with all the details. They have sought information regarding purchase of properties and how these were acquired. I have been an income taxpayer for 22 years now.”
Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, who declared Rs 895 crore assets and is one of the richest MPs in the country, has also been served I-T notice. Similar notices are being issued to MPs in Andhra Pradesh as well.