Madras HC dismisses election petition challenging victory of Udayanidhi Stalin

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed an election petition challenging the victory of Udayanidhi Stalin, son of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.

A bench of Justice V. Bharathidasan dismissed a petition filed by Premalatha. R of Chepauk against the actor-turned-politician, holding that were no substantial materials that necessitate a full-fledged trial.

The judge agreed with senior counsel N.R. Elango, representing Udayanidhi Stalin, that Premalatha's complaint was bereft of material evidences and hence should not be entertained by the court.

Udayanidhi Stalin had filed an application in the court through Elango stating that the petitioner had challenged his victory on various grounds such as making false statements, including on criminal cases pending against him, and that he had indulged in corrupt practices but there were no material particulars to substantiate her claim, and hence the petition should be rejected.

He said that he had disclosed details of all 22 criminal cases pending against him before various police stations in the state related to public protests. He also said that the petitioner had made a wild allegation against him that the presiding officer of the election was his wife's former teacher.

"The petitioner has however not averred as to how that had affected the election. Having stated that the presiding officer acted in collusion with the applicant, the election petitioner did not state what is the collusion and what are the things done by me so that I could answer the same."

Counsel for the petitioner, Shakthivel said that the deliberate and intentional filing of a "false affidavit" had materially affected the election outcome and therefore the court must declare the election of Udayanidhi Stalin as null and void after ruling that the acceptance of his nomination form was not in accordance with the law.

However, this did not find any favour with the court.