Acting on Madras High Court directions, the Election Commission on Tuesday directed the poll officials in Tamil Nadu to register cases against All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo J Jayalalithaa for furnishing false affidavits during the 2001 assembly polls when she filed her nominations from four constituencies against the two permitted legally.

The EC has asked the Chief Electoral Officer of the state to instruct the Returning Officers of Bhuvanagiri and Pudukottai to file cases before respective Magistrates against the AIADMK leader, EC sources said.

She had not disclosed before the Returning Officers that she had filed nominations from four seats.

The EC's action comes in the wake of Madras High Court direction to it on June 13 to initiate action against her in accordance with law within a period of six weeks, observing that there was prima facie sufficient evidence to take action against her for filing false election declaration.

The bench had acted on the public interest litigation by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam parliamentarian C Kuppusamy.       

The petitioner had sought a direction to the Chief Election Commissioner to initiate appropriate action against Jayalalithaa under section 177 of the Indian Penal Code for suppressing the fact that she is contesting from four seats while filing her nomination papers for four assembly constituencies in the 2001 assembly polls.

A candidate can contest only from two seats.

"Persons holding high offices/positions should be role models to the general public and if they venture to commit flagrant violations of the rules and laws made, that too knowingly, as in this case, it should not be taken lightly, sending wrong signals to the public that laws are meant only for the general public and not for the bigwigs, who can go scot free," the court had said in a hard-hitting observation.

Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami had earlier said: "If the high court has said that action should be taken within a specified period, we will do that."

The Commission also directed the CEO to issue show cause notices to the two poll officials who acted as Returning Officers at that time and get their explanation along with his recommendations on the disciplinary action to be taken against them, the sources said.

The maximum punishment for the electoral offences committed by Jayalalithaa is six months. The AIADMK leader had filed nomination papers from Krishnagiri, Pudukottai, Andipatti and Bhvanagiri constituencies during the 2001 assembly polls.

However, she could not contest as her papers were rejected in all the four constituencies on technical grounds.

After the polls, she was invited by the then Governor Fathima Beei to form a ministry in May 2001.

However, her appointment was quashed by the Supreme Court on November 23 the same year on a petition filed by DMK general secretary K Anbazhagan saying that it was unconstitutional to appoint her as the chief minister as she had been convicted by a lower court in the TANSI land case.