Tiruchi MP's election upheld by high court

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Wednesday upheld the election of P Kumar, who was the victorious AIADMK candidate from Tiruchi parliamentary constituency in the last general elections.
Justice K Chandru, dismissing an application filed by Sarubala R Thondaiman of Congress, said the losing candidate's allegations such as excess expenditure by Kumar and other poll-related malpractices were too vague and bereft of any proof.The judge also imposed a case cost of Rs 10,000 on Sarubala, payable to Kumar.
The parliamentary election was held on May 13, 2009, and the results were declared on May 16, 2009. Kumar had defeated Sarubala by a margin of 4,335 votes.
In the present litigation, it was submitted on behalf of the Congress candidate that Kumar had spent amounts in excess of the authorised expenditure. Rejecting her claim, Justice Chandru pointed out that the Election Commission had already verified the records and found that the accounts were in order. It had even refunded the original deposit to the candidate.
She also contended that the mandatory requirement for the voters to cast their votes in terms of Rule 49(O), which is a no-vote' option, was not maintained by the polling officials. However, the judge rejected the claim on the ground that it was not her case that such votes were falsely created to deprived her of her chance of winning the election. As for her allegation regarding recounting of votes, the judge said it was too vague and no trial could be allowed on the issue.