CHENNAI: The Madras High Court (MHC) has directed the Election Commission (EC) to respond to a plea to disqualify Edappadi K Palaniswami from Leader of Opposition (LOP) and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) by initiating quo warranto.

Petitioner A Subburathinam from Dindigul contended that EPS had suppressed the details of his assets, properties, and various transactions including gift deeds and sale deeds in the election affidavit. Hence he should be disqualified from the LOP and MLA office, by initiating quo warranto.

The case was listed before the first division bench comprising Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy.

The counsel for the petitioner submitted that as he is not the voter of the Edappadi constituency, he cannot file an election petition against EPS and sought EC to take action.

The petitioner also sought to recover the salary, benefits, and other allowances of EPS as he suppressed the details of his assets.

The counsel for EC sought time to file an affidavit. After the submission, the bench granted time to file an affidavit and posted the matter to February 22 for further hearing.