Madras High Court refuses to reject election petition against AIADMK MLA Natham Viswanathan

The Madras High Court, on Monday (July 7, 2025), dismissed AIADMK MLA and former Minister Natham R. Viswanathan’s plea to reject an election petition filed by his rival candidate M.A. Andiambalam of DMK challenging his victory from Natham constituency in Dindigul district in the 2021 Assembly polls.

Justice P.T. Asha concurred with advocate Richardson Wilson, representing the election petitioner, that his client had made out a prima facie case for conducting a full-fledged trial on the election petition and therefore it could not be rejected in limine at the request of the MLA.

In his election petition, Mr. Andiambalam stated he was declared to have lost the 2021 election by a margin of 11, 932 votes since he secured 95,830 votes as against 1,07,762 votes polled by Mr. Viswanathan. He claimed that the election of his rival candidate ought to be set aside in view of various corrupt practices.

The petitioner alleged the AIADMK MLA had violated many provisions of the Representation of the People Act of 1951, the Conduct of Election Rules of 1961 and also a series of notifications issued by the Election Commission of India thereby materially affecting the result of the polls.