HC dispenses with appearance of CEC on election petition

The Madras High Court today dispensed with the personal appearance of the Chief Election Commissioner in an election petition matter.
Justice MV Muralidharan allowed a petition by Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhani on behalf of the CEC, seeking to dispense with his personal appearance in court.
The judge had, on December 23, ordered the personal appearance of the CEC after the EC's counsel failed to appear in the matter, despite repeated notices.
He had passed the interim order during the hearing of the petition filed by one K Karuppasamy, a voter of Oddanchatram Assembly constituency, challenging the election of DMK's R Sakkarapani in the May 16, 2016 Assembly polls on the ground of alleged bribing of voters.

When the matter came up for hearing today, counsel Nirajan Rajagopalan, appearing for the CEC, submitted that as per Supreme Court directions, apart from candidates, no one should be made respondents in election petitions.
The counsel also filed another petition to remove the CEC as a respondent over which the judge issued notice to the petitioner and posted the matter for further hearing on January 9.
The petitioner had cited the CEC as the second respondent and the District Election Officer and Returning Officer as the third and fourth respondents.