The Madras High Court dismissed a PIL challenging a BJP candidate’s nomination from Tirunelveli, stating it was “too late” to offer relief at the “eleventh hour.”
Chennai: Today (16th April): The Madras High Court rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that questioned the acceptance of the nomination papers of Nainar Nagendran, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate from the Tirunelveli Lok Sabha constituency.
The court dismissed the petition, stating that it was too late to consider the matter and that no relief could be granted at this stage. The petitioner had alleged that Nagendran’s nomination was in violation of several provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice J Sathya Narayana Prasad’s bench deemed the petition untimely, stating it was “too late” to provide relief at the “eleventh hour.”
The PIL was filed by V Maharajan, a resident of Madurai district, who claimed that Nagendran’s nomination papers were accepted despite being in breach of Sections 33, 33A, 34, and 35 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
Background
According to Maharajan, Nagendran filed two separate nomination papers for the same constituency, one as a BJP candidate and the other as an independent candidate. Furthermore, Maharajan alleged that Nagendran had deliberately concealed the existence of a pending criminal case against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Maharajan had previously brought these issues to the attention of the Election Commission of India (ECI) through a representation. However, he claimed that the ECI failed to investigate the matter. Despite these allegations, the High Court opined that Maharajan should have approached the court earlier and suggested that he could reapproach the ECI if desired.
