Madras HC has struck down allegations in petition: Chidambaram's lawyer

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Home Minister P. Chidambaram's lawyer on Thursday said the Madras High Court has struck down the allegations against the returning officer, other government servants and bank officials and alleged 'corrupt practices' from the election petition filed against him.

"Election law is a strict law. Rules regarding pleadings are very strict rules. Pleadings in an election petition that do not comply with the rules are liable to be struck out," T. Sathyamurthy, advocate of the Home Minister, said in a statement.

In this case too, he said, as a matter of procedure, counsel for Chidambaram filed a petition under order 6 Rule 16 of the Civil Procedure Code to strike out certain pleadings.

"The High Court has partially accepted the petition and struck out two crucial paragraphs - paragraphs 4 and 5 of the election petition. These paragraphs contained allegations against the returning officer, other govt servants and bank officials and alleged 'corrupt practices'."

"These pleadings have now been struck out," Sathyamurthy said.

The lawyer said as regards the other pleadings, issues will be framed and the trial of the election petition will begin.

"It is pertinent to point out that the trial of the election petition has not yet started and the case is at a preliminary stage," he said.

"The correct position is that the court has not expressed any view on the merits of the allegations and has only struck out two crucial paragraphs on the ground that they do not comply with the strict law pleadings," Sathyamurthy said.

"There are uninformed and speculative stories in the media on the order of the Madras High Court in an election petition filed against the election of Chidambaram from Shivaganga constituency in Tamil Nadu," he said.

He said more than 100 election petitions have been filed against the members of the 15th Lok Sabha. The election petition against Chidambaram is one among them, he said.

The election petition has been filed by AIADMK candidate R.S. Rajakannappan.

He had also contested the Assembly elections in 2011 and lost to the DMK candidate.

He has filed an election petition against the DMK candidate. That petition is also pending.