CHENNAI: The Madras HC has dismissed as withdrawn a petition filed by Puthiya Tamilagam leader K Krishnaswamy challenging the election of AIADMK candidate R Sundararajan in the May 2016 general election from Oddapidaram Assembly constitiuency in Thoothukudi.
When the matter came up before Justice K Ravichandra Baabu on Tuesday, Krishnaswamy, who lost the election by a margin of 493 votes, opted to withdraw his petition and the judge dismissed the petition as withdrawn. While the matter was pending before the judge, Sundararajan was disqualified under the anti-defection law for joining hands with TTV Dhinakaran.
He was one of the 18 disqualified MLAs. The High Court had also confirmed his disqualification and the Election Commission (EC) had declared the Oddapidaram Assembly constituency as vacant. The EC has recently notified by-elections to the 18 constituencies. Oddapidaram is one among the three constituencies for which no election has been announced.
The EC has reasoned the pendency of cases before the High Court. Now that Krishnaswamy has withdrawn his petition and the High Court dismissed it as withdrawn, the ball is now in EC court. The judge also directed the registry to report the withdrawal of the election petition to EC forthwith, as required under Sec. 111 of The Representation of the People Act (RPA).