Madras High Court dismisses plea against Vanathi’s election

Justice V Bharathidasan of the HC rejected the petition moved by Rajiv Gandhi, a candidate who contested for the Hindustan Janata Party. The petitioner wanted recounting of votes polled in the Coimbatore South constituency.

The judge, while dismissing the petition, observed that the petitioner’s contentions are vague and do not have any material evidence.

The petitioner alleged that the victory appears doubtful since the majority of voters of that particular constituency were opposing the BJP, as was evident at the time of the petitioner’s campaign.

“I have secured only 73 votes in 26 rounds of counting and a few other independent candidates were also declared to have secured very few votes. Since we were residents of the constituency, we would all have got at least 1,000 votes each,” he submitted.

On recording the submissions, the judge rejected all the contentions observing that there are no valid points and the allegations were vague.