Madras High Court
Arivarasupandian.T vs The Chief Election Commissioner on 10 April, 2024
Author: J.Sathya Narayana Prasad
Bench: Sanjay V.Gangapurwala, J.Sathya Narayana Prasad
W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED: 10.04.2024
CORAM
THE HON'BLE MR.SANJAY V.GANGAPURWALA, CHIEF JUSTICE
AND
THE HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE J.SATHYA NARAYANA PRASAD
W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024
and W.M.P.(MD) No.7937 of 2024
Arivarasupandian.T. ... Petitioner
-vs-
1.The Chief Election Commissioner
of India, Election Commission of India
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashok Nagar
New Delhi - 110 001.
2.The Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu
Public (Election) Department, Secretariat
Fort St.George, Chennai 600 009.
3.The Returning Officer-cum-District Collector
No.33, Theni Parliamentary Constituency
Theni. ... Respondents
Prayer: Petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for
issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records of
the impugned rejection order made in proceedings No.Nil dated
28.03.2024 passed by the 3rd respondent and quash the same as
unconstitutional and without jurisdiction consequently to direct the 3rd
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W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024
respondent to accept the nomination submitted by the petitioner and
to include the name of the petitioner in the list of candidates for
No.33, Theni Parliamentary Constituency in General Election to Lok
Sabha-2024.
For the Petitioner : Mr.M.Sathiamoorthy
For the Respondents : Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal
*****
ORDER
(Made by the Hon'ble Chief Justice) We have heard Mr.M.Sathiamoorthy, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.Niranjan Rajagopal, learned counsel for the respondents.
2. The petitioner has filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate in respect of No.33, Theni Parliamentary Constituency. The nomination of the petitioner has been rejected. Aggrieved thereby, the present writ petition has been filed.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the nomination of the petitioner has been rejected on wholly erroneous Page 2 of 6 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024 and untenable grounds. The nomination of the petitioner has been rejected on the ground that the petitioner is in government service. The petitioner in his affidavit in Form No.26 has never stated that he is in government service. The petitioner is in service with the local library authority. The said local library authority is a body corporate. Though the funds are received from the Government, the petitioner cannot be dubbed as a government employee so as to attract bar under Article 102(1) of the Constitution of India. The provision of Article 191(1) of the Constitution while rejecting the nomination also has been wrongly mentioned. According to the learned counsel, the petitioner has come at the earliest point of time. As such, the case of the petitioner has to be considered as the polling is scheduled only on 19.04.2024 and the respondents can rectify their mistake.
4. Learned counsel for the respondent Election Commission submits that this Court in its writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot entertain the writ petition. He refers to the constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court in N.P.Ponnuswami -vs- Returning Officer, Namakkal Constituency and Others (1952) 1 SCC 94.
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5. It is stated that the symbols are also allotted and only polling has to take place on 19.04.2024. It is further submitted that polling by postal ballot has already commenced.
6. In the light of the above, it would be too late in the day now to entertain the writ petition of the petitioner. The petitioner, if aggrieved by the rejection of the nomination papers, can avail the remedy of filing election petition. In the election petition, the petitioner can raise all the contentions.
7. With the above observation, the writ petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.
(S.V.G., CJ.) (J.S.N.P., J.)
10.04.2024
Index : Yes/No
Neutral Citation : Yes/No
kst
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W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024
To
1.The Chief Election Commissioner
of India, Election Commission of India Nirvachan Sadan, Ashok Nagar New Delhi - 110 001.
2.The Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu Public (Election) Department, Secretariat Fort St.George, Chennai 600 009.
3.The Returning Officer-cum-District Collector No.33, Theni Parliamentary Constituency Theni.
Page 5 of 6 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis W.P (MD) No.8690 of 2024 THE HON'BLE CHIEF JUSTICE AND J.SATHYA NARAYANA PRASAD, J.
(kst) W.P(MD) No.8690 of 2024 10.04.2024 Page 6 of 6 https://www.mhc.tn.gov.in/judis