Madras High Court Disposes Plea To Permanently Debar Congress Leader Manickam Tagore From Contesting Any Election In Tamil Nadu

The bench of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice Mohammed Shaffiq disposed of the plea after taking on record the Election Commission's submission that a competent authority had already considered the issue. The ECI further assured the court that the petitioner's representation would be considered and disposed of within a week.

The court was hearing a plea by one Sasikumar. He argued that Tagore, who was the candidate from Virudhunagar assembly constituency, and his party men were involved in the distribution of money and gifts to the voters in violation of the election laws and rules and thus sought to debar him permanently from contesting any elections in the state of Tamil Nadu.

The court however took on record the submission of the Election Commission which assured the court that the representation would be disposed of in a week. Thus, finding that no other orders needed to be passed, the court disposed of the plea accordingly.

Plea for Disqualification

The Madras High Court had also dismissed another plea seeking disqualification of Manickam Tagore based on a complaint filed by BJP IT Wing's Virudhunagar District President C Selvakumar.

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Sathya Narayana Prasad noted that an FIR had already been registered and since the complaint had already been filed with the Election Commission, it was for the ECI to consider the complaint on its own merits.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr.Dinesh for M/s.C.Bharathiraja

Counsel for the Respondents: Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal, Mr.S.Siva Shanmugam, Mr.J.Ravindran Addl. Advocate-General assisted by Mr.Habeeb Rahman Government Advocate

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 176

Case Title: Sasikumar v Union Government of India and Others

Case No: W.P.(MD) No.9946 of 2024