Chennai, Oct 12:
The Madras High Court has permitted the withdrawal of an election petition challenging the victory of MDMK MLA Senthilselvan from the Sirkazhi Assembly constituency and subsequently dismissed the case.
Senthilselvan, who contested the recently concluded Assembly election from the Sirkazhi (Reserved) constituency as an MDMK candidate in the DMK-led alliance on the Rising Sun symbol, was declared elected with a margin of 11,417 votes.
Challenging his victory, a voter named Vasu had filed an election petition before the Madras High Court. Senthilselvan had also filed a petition seeking dismissal of the election petition against him. The petitioner had earlier informed the court of his intention to withdraw the case.
When the matter came up for hearing before Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy on Monday, the court permitted the petitioner to withdraw the election petition and ordered its dismissal.
As per the usual procedure, when a petitioner seeks to withdraw an election petition, the High Court generally provides 15 days for objections to be raised or for any other person to initiate election proceedings, if necessary. As no one came forward to object to Senthilselvan’s victory or file another election petition within the stipulated period, the court dismissed the case following the withdrawal request.