Chennai, Oct 31:
The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed an election petition challenging the victory of DMK Legislator O.Panneerselvam from the Bodinayakanur Assembly constituency in his native Theni district in the April Assembly elections.
A former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator, Panneerselvam had since quit the party, joined the DMK and contested from his home turf of Bodinayakanur seat and got elected for a fourth successive term. He was elected on AIADMK ticket in 2011, 2016 and 2021 and the 20216 polls on DMK ticket.
OPS secured 85,206 votes and defeated his nearest TVK rival S.Prakash by a margin of 6,805 votes. Prakash polld 78,401 votes. Two voters, T. Kannan of Bodinayakanur and Milani of Chennai, had filed separate election petitions seeking to declare his election invalid.
On his part, Panneerselvam also filed petitions seeking dismissal of the two poll pleas against him contending that no valid ground or evidence was shown warranting a trial.
Hearing his plea to reject the petition filed by Kannan, Justice P.B. Balaji accepted the MLA’s contention that the petition did not contain the necessary material or evidence to warrant a full-fledged trial and ordered its dismissal.
However, the separate election petition filed by Milani challenging Panneerselvam’s victory is still pending before the High Court.