Chennai: The Madras high court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation, which sought to direct the Election Commission of India, to reject the nomination of AIADMK candidate V. Senthil Balaji for Aravakurichi Assembly constituency.
Dismissing the petition from one Basker, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan said, “In so far as the electoral process is concerned, no interference can be caused merely because an FIR is registered against a person. This is not the Law of the land as it stands today, as neither the final report has been filed nor charges framed, nor there is any conviction. We are, thus, not inclined to grant the relief as prayed for by the petitioner”.
In his petition, Basker alleged that Senthil Balaji during his earlier term as transport minister had indulged in corruption. He himself had collected money to the tune of Rs 4.25 crore from aspiring candidates for securing jobs in the transport department and handed over the same to the PAs and other connected persons with the knowledge of the minister, he further alleged.
The bench directed the investigating agency to file the progress report on the criminal case pending against the former minister before the Assistant Commissioner of Police and monitored by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, CCB.
