The Madras High Court ordered notice to the Election Commission on petitions challenging the voctory of three candidates, including Minister for Water Resources Duraimurugan, in the April 6 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu. Justice V Bharathidasan ordered the notice to the respective successful candidates and the Election Commission of India, returnable by September 6. Losing candidates from Katpadi, Viralimalai and Perundurai constituencies had challenged the election of Duraimurugan, C Vijayabaskar and S Jayakumar, respectively. Vijayabaskar and Jayakumar belong to the AIADMK. In his election petition, V Ramu of Gudiyatham, the AIADMK candidate, submitted that rival Duraimuguran won the election by a thin margin of 746 votes and the counting of postal votes was not conducted according to the rules.
Telangana MP convicted of bribing voters
May be for the first time, a sitting Member of Parliament has been convicted for bribing voters during the 2019 general elections. TRS Lok Sabha MP Kavitha Maloth and her associate were convicted by a special court for MP and MLA cases in Hyderabad. The Lok Sabha MP from Mahbubabad and her aide, Shaukat Ali - who is incidentally the first accused, were sentenced to six months in jail and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. The court has granted them bail to file an appeal before a higher court. Kavitha will appeal in the high court, according to reports. Ali had been caught by a flying squad distributing cash to people in the parliamentary seat. A case was filed under the Burgampahad police station limits The special court has so far convicted two MLAs for different offences.
