The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed an election petition filed against the victory of former Union Minister P. Chidambaram from Sivaganga parliamentary constituency in May 2009.
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Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana rejected the petition pending in the court for nearly 12 years after holding that the charges of corrupt practices were not proved. The case had been filed by the then AIADMK candidate R.S. Rajakannappan who joined the DMK recently.
The petitioner had lost to Mr. Chidambaram in the 2009 election by a margin of 3,354 votes and then filed the case accusing the returned candidate of having manipulated the vote counting process.
He alleged that the Returning Officer had illegally added the votes secured by him in the Alangudi Assembly segment into the kitty of Mr. Chidambaram. If such illegality had not occurred, the petitioner was confident of having won the seat by a margin of 7,034 votes.
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He claimed that AIADMK cadres had agitated against the illegal decision right at the counting centre but they were beaten up by the police.
The petitioner had also challenged the election of Mr. Chidambaram on the ground of bribing of voters.
However, during the course of a full-fledged trial, Mr. Chidambaram entered the witness box and stoutly denied all allegations levelled against him and termed them to be a figment of imagination of the petitioner.
He also stood his ground during elaborate cross examination by the counsel for the petitioner.