High court dismisses plea to bar top 3 candidates

CHENNAI: Madras high court on Thursday dismissed as not maintainable a plea moved by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate for RK Nagar byelection seeking to disqualify AIADMK candidate E Madhusudhanan, DMK candidate N Maruthu Ganesh and independent candidate TTV Dhinakaran from contesting the December 21 bypoll.
BSP candidate AC Sathyamurthy wanted their disqualification on the ground that they had been involved in electoral malpractices during the previous byelection which was cancelled by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
When the plea came up for hearing, a division bench of Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice K Ravichandrabaabu dismissed the plea as not maintainable.
He said Madhusudhanan, Dhinakaran and Maruthu Ganesh had also been involved in electoral offences last time and added that they must be prohibited from contesting this time.