Madurai Bench dismisses plea to postpone Nanguneri by-election

M Sankarasubramanian, who is contesting the Nanguneri by-election as an independent candidate, filed a petition before the Madurai Bench seeking to postpone the election, alleging several irregularities, including bribing of voters in the constituency.

The Election Commission (EC) has failed to monitor the situation and take appropriate steps to ensure free and fair election in Nanguneri constituency. The ruling AIADMK has distributed nearly Rs 20 crore to the voters, he alleged in the petition. When the petition came up for hearing, Additional Advocate General K Chellapandian, who appeared on behalf of the state government submitted that the government has been implementing an effective monitoring mechanism to ensure a free and fair election in Nanguneri.

The officials had seized Rs 18.97 lakh unaccounted money from the constituency so far and the election will be conducted in a proper manner, he added.

Taking note of the government submission, a Division Bench comprising Justices TS Sivagnanam and R Tharani dismissed the petition.

Referring to the petitioner’s claim that he had submitted a representation to the EC on October 8 over the irregularities and no steps were taken so far on his complaint, the judges asked what steps the Election Commission had taken in this regard. The Madurai Bench ofMadras High Court also directed the Election Commission to ensurea free and fair election in theconstituency.