Activist Srisuwan Janya on Friday handed over additional information to the Election Commission (EC) against Future Forward Party (FFP) leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, who is being investigated for holding shares in a media company.
Section 42(3) of the MPs Election Act forbids an election candidate from being a proprietor or shareholder of a media company. Mr Thanathorn is accused of having held shares in V-Luck Media Company, a dormant publisher of lifestyle and inflight magazines, at the time he applied to serve as an election candidate.
Mr Srisuwan said the extra information included documents showing Mr Thanathorn held shares in 13 other firms engaged in media operations. They included Thai Summit Autoparts Industry Co, Thai Summit Engineering Co, and Jueng Pattana Holding.
Based on information he checked with the Department of Business Development (DBD) at the Commerce Ministry, the FFP leader is a shareholder, not an executive, according to Mr Srisuwan.
Based on a literal interpretation of the law, tens of thousands of businesses registered with the DBD could be media companies. Most companies use the department's standard registration form which lists 80 types of business in which they could be engaged, and media is No.43 on the list. So a company that makes car parts could be a media company in the view of people who think as Mr Srisuwan does.
Mr Thanathorn, who was among 149 endorsed party-list MPs, said he had transferred over 600,000 shares in V-Luck Media on Jan 8 before he registered his candidacy.
Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, a former member of the now-dissolved Thai Raksa Chart Party, on Friday lodged a petition against another 13 election candidates from the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) and Democrat Party for allegedly violating the media share-holding rule.
Seven were from the PPRP, including Thanikan Pornpongsaroj, and six from the Democrat Party, including Khunying Kalaya Sophonpanich.
Earlier, Mr Ruangkrai accused four politicians including Bhumjaithai leader Anutin Charnvirakul and PPRP's Nataphol Teepsuwan of holding shares in media companies, rendering them ineligible.
Mr Ruangkrai said he would file a petition with the Administrative Court for an injunction to suspend the EC's endorsement of 149 party-list MPs and order the EC to recalculate and reallocate the list seats.
The EC's calculation method, which awarded a party list seat to each of 11 small parties, was against Section 128(5) of the law on the election of MPs, he said.
The article stipulates that the entire voter turnout, minus the number of invalid ballots and abstentions, as well as votes for parties that did not field a party-list MP, divided by 500 -- the total number of MPs -- be the reference number of a minimum vote for party-list MPs. In the case of the March 24 election, the number was 71,000 votes per one MP.