The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation seeking a five-year bar on legislators who resign shortly after being elected and then seek re-election. The court also refused to stay the October 6 bypolls to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies. The first Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan held that any restriction on resigned MLAs contesting elections, or recovery of by-election expenditure from them, would require a legislative provision, and that such a law-making direction could not be issued by the court.
The PIL was filed by Saidapet-based advocate K Suthan after six AIADMK MLAs elected in the April Assembly polls resigned and subsequently joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). The six were Maragatham Kumaravel, P Sathyabama, S Jayakumar, Dr Esakki Subbaya, C Vijaya Bhaskar and M R Vijayabhaskar. Of these, the resignations of Kumaravel from Madurantakam and Sathyabama from Dharapuram have resulted in the bypolls scheduled for October 6. Both have been renominated by the TVK from the same constituencies. The petitioner argued that elected representatives who voluntarily resign soon after an election should be made financially accountable for the additional election expenditure and should be prevented from immediately contesting another election.
Chennai, Sept 24:
The petitioner had also sought directions to the Election Commission to introduce an “Election Expenditure Security” mechanism under which resigned MLAs contesting the subsequent bypolls would deposit the estimated cost of conducting the election. The Election Commission opposed the plea, submitting that there was no statutory provision to recover poll expenses from candidates and that the issue required legislative action. The court, in its final order, held that Parliament alone could enact provisions to disqualify resigned MLAs from contesting elections or recover election expenses from them. It therefore dismissed the PIL and rejected the request to stop the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls.