CHENNAI: The first bench of Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad on Monday dismissed a petition filed by a BJP functionary seeking disqualification of C Manickam Tagore, the Congress party’s candidate from Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency, for allegedly distributing tokens to influence the voters.
The petition was filed by C Selvakumar, president of BJP’s IT Wing in Virudhunagar district.
He stated the supporters of the Congress candidate distributed tokens (that can be exchanged for gifts or cash) in order to influence them to cast votes in favour of Tagore.
Saying that the Election Commission of India was yet to take action on a representation he had sent in this regard, the petitioner sought the court to order disqualification of the Congress Manickam Tagore.
However, the bench observed the petitioner had filed the petition just a day after sending his representation to the election commission on April 14 and noted that the commission had already initiated action.
Holding that the petition was filed for publicity, the bench dismissed it. However, the high court told him to seek remedy, if he wanted, by filing a proper election petition before the court.