Chennai: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered
issuance of notice to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on a
petition from his AIADMK rival challenging his election from
Sivaganga constituency in the May Lok Sabha elections.
The notice, returnable in four weeks, was ordered to be
issued to Chidambaram and 19 others, including the Returning
Officer of Sivaganga, by Justice K Venkatraman.
AIADMK candidate R S Raja Kannappan, who narrowly lost to
Chidambaram, had filed the petition seeking declaration of the
election as void, alleging manipulation of votes and corrupt
practices had been committed by Chidambaram, his election
agents and others, with his consent.
Kannappan had also sought a recount of votes polled in the
constituency, particularly in Alangudi Assembly segment. He
had polled 3,30,994 votes as against 3,34,348 by Chidambaram,
thereby losing by 3,354 votes.
He claimed that but for the "manipulations", he would have
won the elections by a margin of about 7,000 votes.
"This is why it took a long time for the returning officer
to declare the results and the declaration came only at 8.30
pm," he contended in the petition.
Kannappan claimed that votes secured by him in the 11th,
12th, 13th, 14th and 15th rounds of counting in Alangudi had
been "ingeniously added to Chidambaram`s kitty and vice
versa".
He accused the election official of "unduly" favouring the
Minister and at his behest not publishing votes polled by the
candidates in each round in Alangudi and some other segments.
Bureau Report
