MADURAI: Clarifying that the petition will not hamper the conduct of by-elections for the 18 constituencies, the Madurai Bench issued notice on a public interest litigation that sought recovery of the funds spent for the 2016 General Assembly elections for the constituencies of the 18 disqualified MLAs and to spend the recovered money for the recent cyclone victims. According to the litigant K K Ramesh, a resident of Madurai, due to an inter-party dispute, 18 MLAs belonging to AIADMK withdrew their support to the party and were subsequently disqualified, paving way for by-elections in the 18 constituencies.
Citing that due to the inter-party dispute, huge amount of public money will be spent for the by-elections, the litigant prayed the Court for a direction to recover the funds from the disqualified MLAs and use them for prividing relief to victims of cyclone Gaja.
A bench comprising Justices K K Sasidharan and P D Audikesavalu who heard the plea, issued notice to the Election Commission of India, Chief Electoral Officer, Chief Secretary and Revenue Secretary of Tamil Nadu, and representatives of AIADMK and the disqualified MLAs, returnable before January 4.
The Judges further stated that the pendency of the petition would not be an impediment to the election process.