The Madras high court on Thursday refused to dismiss the petition challenging Home Minister P Chidambaram's election to Lok Sabha from Sivaganga in 2009, and told the minister to "fight the case".
Chidambaram had moved the court seeking dismissal of the petition filed by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's Raja Kannappan, who lost the election from Sivanganga by a mere 3,354 votes.
The AIADMK candidate had filed the petition seeking declaration of the election as void, alleging manipulation of votes and corrupt practices had been committed by Chidambaram, his election agents and others, with his consent.
Kannappan had also sought a recount of votes polled in the constituency, particularly in Alangudi assembly segment. He had polled 3,30,994 votes as against 3,34,348 by Chidambaram, thereby losing by 3,354 votes....
Fight the election petition, Madras HC tells Chidambaram
He claimed that but for the 'manipulations', he would have won the elections by a margin of about 7,000 votes.
Kannappan claimed that votes secured by him in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th rounds of counting in Alangudi had been "ingeniously added to Chidambaram's kitty and vice versa".
He accused the election official of 'unduly' favouring the minister and at his behest not publishing votes polled by the candidates in each round in Alangudi and some other segments.
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Fight the election petition, Madras HC tells Chidambaram
Chidambaram is already facing Opposition's heat over his alleged involvement in the 2G scam. The BJP has been alleging that as finance minister at the time when the licences were doled out by former telecom minister and 2G scam key accused A Raja on a first-come-first-serve basis, Chidambaram was aware of blatant manipulation of guidelines and that he failed to interfere.
More recently, his troubles in the case were compounded with the allegation surfacing over his role in the Aircel-Maxis deal during the former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran's term.
The Opposition is now expected to go all out to demand Chidambaram's resignation.
Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar had extensively covered Chidambaram's 2009 election bid. Here's his report
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