CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to bar political parties from forming pre-poll alliances.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan on Wednesday rejected the plea filed by R Viswanathan, stating that such a relief cannot be granted. The court also observed that the petitioner can’t approach the ECI with a representation in this regard. Grilling the petitioner’s counsel as to what provision of the law he wanted to amend, the bench noted that a similar petition was dismissed by the Madurai Bench.
Viswanathan, founder of MGR Makkal Katchi, had contended that pre-poll alliances lack principled policies and are merely “alliances of convenience” that undermine stable democracy.
Meanwhile, the bench posed certain questions to another PIL petitioner including if the vires of a Central Act can be challenged in a PIL. The queries were raised when the PIL filed by advocate T Sivagnanasambandan challenging eight sections of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act came up for hearing on Wednesday. The petition alleged that the provisions of the eight sections are unconstitutional and go against the principles of basic structure theory and federalism.
Noting that VB-G- RAM G is a Central Act, the bench asked the counsel for the petitioner ML Ravi how the petitioner was affected by it.
When it said it would impose costs for filing the petition without substantial grounds, the petitioner withdrew the petition.