Summary:
Pendency of this litigation was citied as the primary reason for deferring byelection to the constituency along with other assembly constituencies on April 18 by the ECI.In his plea challenging the election of Bose, Saravanan alleged that thumb impression of the then general secretary of the AIADMK, J Jayalalithaa, on the nomination papers had been obtained by fraudulent means – to secure the party symbol - when she was “unconscious” in hospital.Saravanan said that he would have won easily if the poll panel had rejected the AIADMK candidate’s nomination and had not allotted the two leaves symbol to Bose. CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Friday set aside the election of AIADMK legislator A K Bose (now dead) from Thiruparankundram assembly constituency in 2016 byelection Justice P Velmurugan passed the order while allowing the election petition moved by DMK candidate for the constituency Dr Saravanan.The court passed the final order mainly on two grounds - the Election Commission of India (ECI) does not have powers to permit affixing thumb impression on the nomination papers, particularly in Form A and B which should be signed by the general secretary of the party certifying that the candidate is a member of the party and that there is no concrete proof to show that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa affixed her thumb impression on the forms with conscious mind.The judge also dismissed a sub application moved by Saravanan after the demise of Bose to declare him as the winning candidate from the constituency.With the court declaring the election as null and void, the constituency would be automatically deemed to be vacant..