Madras HC dismisses election petition against EV Velu

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed an election petition filed by TVK candidate Arul Arumugam challenging the victory of DMK whip and former Minister EV Velu in the Tiruvannamalai Assembly seat.

EV Velu, who contested from Tiruvannamalai in the recently concluded Assembly election, secured a narrow victory, polling 88,273 votes. He defeated TVK’s Arul Arumugam by a margin of 2,455 votes. BJP’s C Elumalai finished third with 34,280 votes in a closely contested battle.

Challenging the result, Arul Arumugam filed a petition before the High Court. In response, EV Velu filed a petition seeking the rejection of the plea against him.

After hearing both parties, Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy allowed EV Velu’s application and dismissed the election petition filed by Arul Arumugam.

The court observed that the petitioner, a first-time candidate, had to face the humiliation and one-upmanship of the returned candidate belonging to the then ruling party. Despite this, the winning margin was only 2,455 votes. However, the petition failed to identify any specific circumstance that vitiated the election or raised a triable issue requiring defence.