Chennai, April 21 The Madras High Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Ramanathapuram Member of Parliament K. Navaskani, who sought the quashing of an election petition filed against him by former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam.
Navaskani, a candidate of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and part of the DMK-led INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu, secured a resounding victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Ramanathapuram constituency.
He defeated Panneerselvam, who contested as an independent candidate backed by the BJP, by a margin of 1,66,782 votes.
Challenging the result, Panneerselvam filed an election petition in the Madras High Court, accusing Navaskani of concealing material information in his nomination papers and indulging in corrupt practices during the campaign.
Navaskani, in response, moved the court seeking dismissal of the petition.
Justice C.V. Karthikeyan, who heard the matter, declined to entertain Navaskani’s plea and dismissed his petition. The court has scheduled the next hearing on the election case for June 16.
The case is one among a few high-profile election petitions currently before the Madras High Court.
BJP leader and MLA Nainar Nagendran has also filed a similar petition challenging the victory of Congress candidate Robert Bruce from Tirunelveli. Bruce won the seat by defeating Nagendran with a margin of 1.66 lakh votes.
Navaskani is a two-term MP from Ramanathapuram, while Panneerselvam, a former AIADMK leader and former Chief Minister, contested the 2024 election after being expelled from the party and aligning with the BJP.
The Madras High Court had on January 27 dismissed a petition filed by Navaskani, who is also the chairman of the Tamil Nadu Waqf Board, and six others to quash a charge sheet filed against them in 2022 for alleged violation of the election code in 2019.
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