Madras High Court Dismisses PIL on Voter List Allegations with Costs

The Madras High Court has dismissed a PIL challenging alleged voter list manipulation by the Election Commission, cited by Rahul Gandhi, imposing a Rs 1 lakh cost. The court deemed the petition as filed for publicity, with similar issues already pending in the Supreme Court.

The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) that sought clarity from the Election Commission regarding Congressman Rahul Gandhi's voter list manipulation allegations. The court imposed a penalty of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner.

The First Bench, consisting of Chief Justice M M Shrivatsava and Justice G Arul Murugan, rejected the plea submitted by advocate V Venkata Sivakumar. The petition demanded that the Election Commission provide electoral data in a machine-readable format and report on actions taken to ensure transparent elections.

The bench highlighted the existence of a related case pending before the Supreme Court, labeling the PIL as an attempt to gain publicity before dismissing it decisively.