The Madras High Court on Friday directed its Registry to issue summons to the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as well as its Deputy Director General at the Regional Office in Bengaluru for production of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s thumbprint, which would have been obtained when she applied for the Aadhaar card.
Justice P. Velmurugan ordered that either the chairman or Deputy Director General, whoever was in possession of the thumbprint, should appear before the court on December 8 and produce the records for cross-verification with the thumb impressions reportedly affixed by her on papers related to a byelection held during her hospitalisation last year.
The summons was issued to the head of the Regional Office in Bengaluru, since UIDAI had only eight regional offices across the country, with each of the offices covering more than one State. Issues related to issuance of Aadhaar cards to those in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Lakshadweep fell under the direct control of the regional office in Bengaluru.
The judge also directed the Superintendent of the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison, where Ms. Jayalalithaa was lodged for 21 days after her conviction by a trial court in Karnataka in the disproportionate assets case in September 2014, to appear in-person on December 8 and produce the thumbprints that would have been taken when she was lodged in the prison.
The interim orders were passed on an election petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate P. Saravanan, a Madurai-based oncologist, who had challenged the victory of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIAMDK) A.K. Bose in the bypoll held for the Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency in November last year.
Though the victory had been challenged on many grounds, the petitioner had primarily questioned the authenticity of the thumb impressions reportedly affixed by Ms. Jayalalithaa on the statutory forms submitted to the Election Commission, declaring Mr. Bose to be her party’s official candidate.
If the thumb impressions affixed on the election forms are proved not to belong to Ms. Jayalalithaa, the entire election could be declared null and void.
The court had already recorded the deposition of several witnesses, including government doctor P. Balaji, who had attested the thumb impressions affixed on the election forms.
Doctor’s contention
Deposing before the court on October 27, Dr. Balaji said that Ms. Jayalalithaa had affixed the thumb impressions on her own after the contents of the election forms were read out to her, though he had not specifically mentioned in the forms that its contents were read out to her and that she affixed the thumb impressions after understanding them in full.
The doctor also said Ms. Jayalalithaa’s aide V.K. Sasikala was by her bedside when he obtained the thumb impression at 6.30 p.m. on October 27, 2016, and denied the suggestion that he met incumbent Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam or any other Minister on that day.
