P Chidambaram wins 2009 Sivaganga poll victory case as Madras High Court dismisses challenging plea

Almost 12 years after he won from Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency for a record seventh time, the Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed an election petition filed against the victory of former Union Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram from his stronghold.

The petition was filed by R S Rajakannappan, the then AIADMK candidate who is now with the DMK, in 2009 immediately after he lost the parliamentary elections by a slender margin of 3,354 votes. Rajakannappan, in his petition, had contended that 3,354 votes secured by him were included in the votes secured by Chidambaram by officials concerned.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana dismissed the petition filed by Rajakannappan, holding that charges of corrupt practices in the election results have not been proved. The case, which was filed in 2009, dragged on for nearly 12 years. Chidambaram appeared during the hearing and denied all allegations levelled against him.

In his petition, Rajakannappan had alleged that the 3,354 votes that he secured in Alangudi assembly constituency were transferred to Chidambaram. Else, Rajakannappan argued that he would have won by over 7,000 votes.

Chidambaram won from Sivaganga seven times, and lost once. His son Karti P Chidambaram lost the election from the seat in 2014 but won in 2019 in alliance with the DMK.

The case gave a handle to Chidambaram’s detractors to take a dig at him often. Late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had alleged that Chidambaram committed a “fraud on the nation” in her first press conference in New Delhi in June 2011 after she brought the AIADMK to power.

"Our party has always maintained that Mr Chidambaram's victory was through fraudulent means... His continuance in the Union council of ministers is untenable. Mr Chidambaram was never elected to Parliament in 2009. He has played a fraud on the nation. Our party candidate won the election," she had said.

In his reaction to Jayalalithaa’s remarks, Chidambaram had said has the habit of "starting on the wrong foot"