In a blow to Shiv Sena's South Mumbai candidate Yamini Jadhav, the Income Tax department has demanded Rs 143 crore from the Byculla MLA and her husband Yashwant Jadhav for the period from 2018 to 2022. Both have appealed to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal on April 10, and their appeals are currently pending.
Yamini, who is the Shiv Sena's candidate for the Lok Sabha election from Mumbai South, is contesting against UBT Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant. She has provided detailed information about her and her spouse's liabilities to the returning officer of the Mumbai South parliamentary constituency, as per the Election Commission of India's rules. The Income Tax department began investigating the Jadhav couple when they were part of UBT Sena. However, the investigation made no progress after they joined Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Yamini Jadhav has stated in her declaration that she has appealed against the income tax demand for the years 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21, for amounts of Rs 1.65 crore, Rs 1.2 crore, and Rs 4 lakh, respectively. Similarly, Yashwant Jadhav has filed appeals against demands of Rs 75.4 crore for 2018-19, Rs 40.4 crore for 2019-20, Rs 5.6 crore for 2020-21, and Rs 18.6 crore for an unspecified year.
It's worth noting that while Yamini filed her affidavit on April 8, 2024, the couple filed their appeals against income tax demands for the last four years on April 10, 2024. Three years ago, the IT department had sought Yamini Jadhav's disqualification from the Election Commission for submitting a false declaration in her assembly poll affidavit, but no action was taken. She and her husband, a former chairman of the BMC standing committee, were investigated by the IT department, Registrar of Companies (ROC), and Enforcement Directorate (ED). However, when the investigation was ongoing, they joined Shinde-led Sena.
Yamini Jadhav encountered trouble in 2020 when the IT department randomly scrutinized her election affidavit from the 2019 assembly election. At that time, she had declared assets worth Rs 7.5 crore, with Yashwant Jadhav's assets valued at Rs 4.6 crore. She had mentioned a loan of Rs 1 crore from a shell firm based in Kolkata.