Madras HC nullifies 2019 election win of lone AIADMK MP and OPS son, Ravindranath Kumar

However, Kumar was expelled from the AIADMK last year along with his father for alleged anti-party activities.

Declaring Kumar’s election invalid, Justice S S Sundar put the enforcement of the decision on hold for 30 days, providing an opportunity for Kumar to appeal.

In the case, which has been heard in the Madras High Court since April 2022, Kumar was accused of concealing his sources of income in the election affidavit.

The petitioner, one P Milany from Theni, submitted that Kumar’s election affidavit only disclosed agriculture and business as his income sources, and alleged that he had not mentioned various particulars related to movable and immovable assets.

Declaring Kumar’s election “null and void”, the court said that in his election affidavit, he had suppressed information regarding his assets in the form of shares and their financial value.

The Returning Officer, the then district collector of Theni, had accepted the affidavit from Kumar after the date of scrutiny of nominations without an explanation or corrections, the court observed.

“This is a serious irregularity,” the court said. “This Court concludes that the Returning Officer has not conducted the summary enquiry during scrutiny of nomination in the manner as expected by the Returning Officer in accordance with law as explained… She (the Returning Officer) has shown her partisan attitude in favour of 3rd respondent (Kumar) at the time of scrutiny. As a consequence, this Court holds that the nomination of 3rd respondent has been improperly accepted by the Returning Officer,” the order said.

The court held that Kumar had given false information in the election affidavit filed under Rule 4(A) of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, by suppressing his assets equivalent to the value of 15,000 equity shares in Tirupur-based Vani Fabrics Private Limited, allegedly transferred in favour of his brother.