The Madras High Court rejects a request to halt the Nellai elections

A plea asking for a directive to halt the elections in the Tirunelveli Lok Sabha seat was denied by the Madras High Court on Tuesday. The petition claimed that BJP candidate Nainar Nagendran had concealed information about an ongoing criminal investigation in his nomination papers. The court cannot review the case owing to time constraints, since the election day is rapidly approaching, according to the first bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad.

The bench said, “It is too late in the day.” It did, however, emphasize that the petitioner may file an electoral petition to seek redress after the elections. The petition was submitted by Madurai-based practicing attorney V Maharajan. He said that Nagendran had concealed information related to an ongoing criminal case that was lodged at the Nanguneri police station and was filed under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and certain sections of the IPC. He said that the nomination papers did not accurately disclose asset facts.

The court also denied Sekar’s second appeal, in which he claimed that his request to challenge the Madurai constituency elections was turned down since it was put out by people from a different constituency.