CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Hindu Makkal Katchi leader Arjun Sampath seeking directions to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restrict candidates in reserved constituencies to those professing Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism.
Citing the “robust” legal framework governing conduct of the elections, the bench said the petition is completely misdirected and legally unmaintainable.
It noted the Supreme Court, time and again, held that the high courts cannot utilise their extraordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 to interrupt, stall, or micromanage the election process, and that any grievance concerning the disqualification or false declaration of a candidate must wait until the conclusion of the election and must be ventilated solely through an election petition.
Pointing out that returning officers are entrusted with powers to examine nomination papers, the court said the legal machinery is fully armed to reject nominations backed by fraudulent certificates or false declarations at the stage of scrutiny itself.
Sampath had filed the petition ahead of the April 23 Assembly election.