Madras HC refuses to grant urgent hearing on DMK's plea challenging EC order on A Raja

On Thursday, the Madras High Court refused an urgent hearing on DMK's plea against the Election Commission's order barring A Raja from campaigning for 48 hours. While the MK Stalin-led party highlighted that there are only a few days left for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election, a division bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy declined to accept this request. Besides imposing a campaign ban, the poll body also delisted Raja from the DMK star campaigner list. 

The EC's order came on the response of the DMK deputy general secretary for allegedly violating provisions of the Model Code of Conduct. The ex-Union Minister had come under fire for his remarks such as "Stalin is a child of a good relationship and good birth while Edappadi Palaniswami is a child of a bad relationship and a prematurely born child". Moreover, his comment- "But EPS who considers that is having knowledge and dignity, just for the sake of the CM post, crawled and held Sasikala's feet who is almost equal in age or to say who is 6 months younger" also drew the Commission's ire. 

While Raja sought a copy of the full text of his "abusive speech", a copy of AIADMK's complaint and a personal hearing, the EC did not find this response satisfactory. According to the poll body, this was an attempt to buy time which it cannot afford to give in the midst of elections. Reprimanding Raja for violating the MCC, the EC advised him to be watchful and to not make intemperate, indecent, derogatory, obscene remarks and lower the dignity of women in the future. 

The upcoming election in Tamil Nadu

In a significant political milestone in TN politics, AIADMK returned to power in 2016 under the leadership of Jayalalithaa for a successive term. In the 234-member Assembly, AIADMK won a whopping 135 seats in contrast to DMK whose candidates could win from 98 constituencies. In the upcoming Assembly election, the DMK is perceived as the principal challenger to AIADMK as it swept 38 out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 General Election.

While the MK Stalin-led party is fighting in an alliance with Congress, CPI, MDMK, VCK, IUML and MMK, AIADMK's allies include BJP, PMK and other smaller parties. Meanwhile, AMMK has joined hands with AIMIM, SDPI and actor Vijayakant-led DMDK. On the other hand, MNM has tied with up All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi and Indhiya Jananayaga Katchi. The polling for the Assembly election in Tamil Nadu will be conducted on April 6 whereas the election results shall be declared on May 2.