In a significant ruling on Thursday, July 6, the Madras High Court nullified the poll victory of AIADMK's O P Ravindhranath Kumar from the Theni parliamentary constituency. However, the operation of the order, which was delivered by a single judge bench of the High Court Justice SS Sundar, was withheld for one month to enable Ravindhranath to file an appeal with the Supreme Court. Ravindhranath, who is the son of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, was the lone AIADMK MP in the Lok Sabha.
The court annulled the election of OP Ravindhranath in the 2019 general election based on a petition filed by P Milany, a voter from Theni, who alleged that he gave money to voters during the election. The petitioner also alleged that Ravindhranath suppressed information in his poll affidavit with regard to his sources of income. Immediately after the court declared the election to be null and void, senior counsel AK Sriram who was representing Ravindhranath, urged the court to not give effect to the verdict for a period of 30 days and asked for an opportunity for the MP to approach the Supreme Court to file an appeal.
The Madras High Court commenced its trial in an election petition filed against the victory of Ravindhranath in 2022. The petitioner, P Milany had testified that in OPR's poll affidavit, he disclosed agriculture and business as his income sources and excluded his salary from a private company where he works as a director. Milany also presented a video clip that was shot reportedly, during the election that purportedly showed the voters being bribed.
Ravindranath contested in the 2019 general election as part of the AIADMK -BJP alliance. He was the only representative elected from the alliance while the rest of the constituencies were swept by DMK’s Secular Progressive Alliance. Ravindhranath was expelled by the Edappadi Palaniswamy-led AIADMK in 2022 following his father OPS’s power tussle with EPS.