The Madras High Court upheld the 2009 parliamentary election's win of Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram from the Sivaganga constituency, today, while dismissing a petition which challenged the former Union Minister's win.

The judgment was pronounced by Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana who rejected the petition that was pending before the apex court for nearly 12 years. It is to be recalled that the case had been filed by the then AIADMK and opponent candidate R.S. Raja Kannappan who lost to P Chidambaram by a slender 3,354 vote margin.

The petitioner had filed the case accusing the returned candidate of having manipulated the vote-counting process.

It was alleged that Returning Officer of the then election had illegally added the votes secured by Raja Kannappan in favor of Mr. Chidambaram. The petition also accused PC of bribing the voters.

Meanwhile, during the cross-examination, the former finance minister P Chidambaram had refuted allegations about cash distribution and on asked about the declaration of election results and the delay in his constituency, the former minister said he was not aware of the time when the election results were out and also in most of the places he knew it was only during that time the official results were announced.