Chennai: The Madras High Court has dismissed an election petition challenging the victory of Chief Minister M K Stalin’s son and Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin in the 2021 Assembly polls
While allowing the plea by the MLA, Justice V Bharathidasan dismissed
the petition filed by a voter, R Premalatha of Chepauk on the ground
that there were no substantial materials necessitating conduct of a
full-fledged trial.
The judge agreed with senior counsel N R Elango, representing the MLA,
that the plaint was bereft of material particulars and hence it should not
be entertained by the court.
In his application, the MLA had stated that the petitioner had challenged
his victory on various grounds such as making false statements regarding
the criminal cases pending against him and indulging in corrupt practices,
but had failed to substantiate those allegations with material particulars.
He submitted that he had disclosed details of all 22 criminal cases pending
against him before various police stations in the State for indulging in public protests.
The MLA said the petitioner had also made a bald allegation that the presiding officer of the election was his wife’s former teacher.
‘The election petitioner, however, did not aver as to how the same had affected the election. Having stated that the presiding officer acted in collusion with the applicant, the election petitioner did not state what is the collusion and what are the things done by me so that I could answer the same,’ the MLA said.
In reply, the petitioner’s counsel K. Sakthivel had contended that deliberate and intentional filing of a ‘false affidavit’ had materially affected the outcome of the election, and therefore, the court must declare his election as null and void after ruling that the acceptance of his nomination form was not in accordance with law.