Madras HC admits plea seeking to declare Jayalalithaa's election void

The Madras High Court on Thursday admitted a petition by an independent who unsuccessfully fought the May 16 Assembly polls from RK Nagar seat from where Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa won, seeking to declare the election as 'null and void'.

While admitting the petition, Justice M Duraiswamy issued notice to the respondents, including Jayalalithaa, returnable in four weeks and posted the matter to September 16. Petitioner G Pravina alleged that her right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution was infringed upon as the Election Commission had not acted on her complaints and sought a direction to hold a fresh poll in RK Nagar.

Appearing before Justice Duraiswamy in person, she alleged that the constituency's Returning Officer had not even permitted her to go for campaigning, including using vehicles for the purpose.
She claimed that the vehicles used by her were detained at "gunpoint" by police.

Pravina said she had submitted a complaint to the Election authorities on May 15 against "not giving permission for campaigning", but no action was taken. She had made a telephone call to Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi, who even after assuring action, had "not acted" on her complaint wherein she had sought either countermanding or postponement of the polls.
Also, the pot symbol allotted to her was not as per the specification of ECI, she contended.