In a big relief to Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the election petition which has been filed in the Madras High Court challenging her election in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Kanimozhi is a member of parliament from the Thoothukudi Lok Sabha constituency in Tamil Nadu.
A Bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela Trivedi allowed the DMK leaders’ appeal challenging the Madras High Court’s refusal to dismiss election petitions disputing her election.
“Election petition is dismissed, the appeal is allowed”, Justice Trivedi read the operative portion orally. The full judgment is yet to be uploaded.
Kanimozhi’s election was challenged by a voter, A Sanathana Kumar, on grounds that she failed to mention her husband’s Permanent Account Number (PAN) in her election affidavit disclosing family assets.
The Madras High Court had earlier rejected the plea of Kanimozhi seeking dismissal of two election petitions filed by the voter and a BJP leader separately challenging her election to the Lok Sabha.
The election petition should necessarily be taken to its logical end, it had said.
While dismissing Kanimozhi’s plea, the high court had said that the election petitioner must be given a chance to marshal evidence to prove his claim of improper acceptance of nomination.
The DMK leader had said her husband was an NRI living in Singapore and he neither possessed a PAN card nor did he pay income tax in India.
Kanimozhi had defeated her nearest rival Tamilisai Soundararajan (now Governor of Telangana) of the BJP.
Another plea challenging the election of Kanimozhi was filed by Soundararajan, who withdrew the plea after becoming the Governor of Telangana.
A Muthuramalingam, a local BJP leader, has substituted Soundararajan as a party in the high court.
(With PTI Inputs)
Read all the Latest India News and Karnataka Elections 2023 updates here
Comments
0 comment