CHENNAI: Refusing to stay vote counting to be held on Tuesday in the Coimbatore city Corporation on the account of allegations of voter bribing, the Madras High Court (HC) said the results of the elections were subject to the outcome of a petition filed in this regard.
The first bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy heard an urgent petition filed by V Eswaran, founder of Coimbatore-based Marumalarchi Makkal Iyakkam, on the alleged cash distribution to influence voters during the February 19 polling in the Corporation.
Recording the contentions of the petitioner, the bench refused to grant the interim stay and cancel the election. However, the bench ordered the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to file a report on the action taken on complaints filed on cash for votes within two weeks.
Adjourning the matter by two weeks, the bench said, “The results of the elections to (Coimbatore city Corporation) shall be subject to the outcome of the petition.” Meanwhile, district Collector GS Sameeran said his office is yet to receive the court order.
The petitioner sought orders to restrain the TNSEC from going ahead with vote counting, cancel the election and constitute a committee headed by a judge of the High Court to probe the incidents of distribution of cash to voters by taking into account a memorandum he submitted on February 19.
He also alleged that the poll authorities did not take serious action to check the flow of money except for one or two occasions even as the AIADMK and DMK men distributed cash and goods for votes. Saying that dishonest people would come to power through foul means, he said, “In such circumstances, unless the same (counting) is restrained, the residents of our Corporation would be put into irreparable loss and hardships.”
It may be noted that Eswaran filed another petition last week seeking orders to the poll authorities to allow his organisation to hold a campaign against cash for votes. The court directed the authorities to consider his application. But he told the court that he was allowed to carry out the campaign only for a day.
Meanwhile, the bench dismissed a petition filed by AIADMK’s Tiruthangal Town Secretary Pon Sakthivel seeking orders to nominate Central observers for monitoring the vote-counting in Sivakasi municipal corporation.
