CHENNAI: Dismissing objections raised by DMK and other parties, R K Nagar Returning Officer (RO) Praveen Nair on Friday accepted the nomination papers filed by AIADMK (Amma) candidate T T V Dhinakaran.
DMK candidate for the constituency, N Marudhuganesh wanted Dhinakaran to be barred from the bypoll since he alleged that the latter was not an Indian citizen by virtue of an affidavit filed in the Madras High Court. The court slapped a fine of D28 crore against Dhinakaran in a FERA case in 2000. The DMK cited this as a confirmation to disqualify Dhinakaran.
In response to this, Dhinakaran’s legal team referred to previous judgements by SC and claimed that persons shown as voters in electoral roll were entitled to contest polls and currently he was on the electoral roll of Velachery constituency.
“Whether a candidate is an undischarged insolvent or not is to be decided by an Insolvency Court...given the volume of evidence placed before me, the claim cannot be easily verified,” the officer said.