The Madras High Court on Monday commenced trial in an election petition filed against the victory of P. Raveendranath Kumar from Theni parliamentary constituency in 2019. His election had been challenged on grounds of suppression of all sources of income in the election affidavit and alleged bribing of voters.
Justice S.S. Sundar recorded the evidence adduced by the election petitioner P. Milany, a voter from the constituency, during the examination-in-chief by his counsel V. Arun and adjourned the matter to Thursday for his cross examination by senior counsel Satish Parasaran representing the Member of Parliament.
During his examination-in-chief, the petitioner entered the witness box and told the court that the MP had mentioned only agriculture and business as his sources of income in the election affidavit and had conveniently not disclosed the salary received by him in his capacity as the director of a private company.
He also submitted a compact disc containing a video clip, that was reportedly circulated on WhatsApp during the election, and claimed that it showed the voters being bribed. The petitioner also relied upon a First Information Report (FIR) registered in this regard at the instance of a complaint lodged by another individual.
Intervening during the course of examination-in-chief, Mr. Parasaran objected to the petitioner’s counsel putting leading questions thereby making the witness answer in a specific way and said that he was surprised by many claims made by the petitioner from the witness box without any corresponding pleadings in the election petition.
He was confident of demolishing the petitioner’s case during the cross examination.
