The Madras High Court has thrown out a petition challenging the election of AIADMK candidate K Alaguvel from the Kallakurichi (Reserve) Assembly constituency in the elections held in 2011.
In his petition, S Chinnadurai, a voter, contended that Alaguvel did not belong to the SC community, hence she was not qualified under 5(1) and therefore disqualified under Section 100(1)(a) of the RP Act.
Accepting the arguments of advocate S Muthuraj for Alaguvel, Justice K Venkataraman observed that the election petitioner had failed to establish that Alaguvel did not belong to SC community. On the other hand she had established by oral and documentary evidence that she belonged to Hindu Pallan community.
In this case, even the initial burden of proving that Alaguvel did not belong to SC community, was not discharged by the election petitioner. “The petitioner has not established that the returned candidate, after her marriage to a man belonging to the Hindu Reddiar community, was practicing the customs of that community disowning the customs of the SC community,” the judge added and dismissed the petition.