The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation petition which sought a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to consider a plea for enhancing the amount of money to be deposited by the contestants in general as well as Legislative Assembly elections.
Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy rejected the petition at the admission stage itself after not finding any public interest in it. The judges pointed out that the money to be deposited by the contestants had been fixed under Section 34 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
The legal provision requires Scheduled Caste candidates contesting in parliamentary elections to deposit ₹12,500 and the others to deposit ₹25,000. Similarly, the SC candidates contesting in the Assembly elections had to deposit ₹5,000 and the others had to deposit ₹10,000.
