Plea seeking to disqualify Kanimozhi, Kathir from contesting polls dismissed

A division bench comprising Justice S Manikumar and Justice Subramonium Prasad, before whom the plea came up for hearing, dismissed the plea on Tuesday after recording ECI counsel’s submission that FIR has been filed against both the candidates based on complaints of violation of the model code of conduct. In his plea, V Abdullah Sait of Ramanathapuram had submitted that Kanimozhi, who is contesting for Thoothukudi constituency has been clandestinely distributing cash to voters during campaigning. The petitioner contended that even the police have taken note of this and have booked a case against the party members and hence her candidature ought to be set aside. Similarly, citing the seizure of a large amount of cash by the Income Tax department that purportedly belonged to DMK’s Vellore candidate, DM Kathir Anand, son of S Duraimurugan, the petitioner also wanted action against Anand. “Both these candidates have made a mockery of the system and have reduced faith in the election process for the voters,” the petitioner claimed, and sought the court to direct ECI to disqualify them.