Chennai, June 7: Madras High Court today removed two key allegations against P. Chidambaram from a petition challenging his election to the Lok Sabha, but allowed the remaining 19 charges to be heard when the trial would start.
The ruling ignited a firestorm of demands from the Opposition for the resignation of the Union home minister, who dismissed the calls by expressing “astonishment” at the “ignorance” of those seeking his scalp.
The home minister, who is also a renowned lawyer, and his team found themselves summoning their courtroom acumen to explain why the ruling was not a setback and it had, in fact, gone in his favour.
Team Chidambaram focused on the two allegations that were struck off, citing them as proof of his victory. The two allegations, levelled directly against Chidambaram, were that the Congress leader had influenced the AIADMK voters by having cases filed against them, and that he had used the services of government and bank officials to further his chances.
But, the Opposition played up the fact that 19 of the 21 allegations were not removed at this stage and put on course for the trial.
Some of the remaining allegations include one that Chidambaram’s son Karti had paid Rs 20 lakh to Jayarani, a member of a self-help group (SHG), to be distributed at the rate of Rs 500 for its 4,000 members. Another allegation claims that Chidambaram’s agents had collected bank account numbers of many SHG members for the money to be transferred later.
A verdict is likely to take six months or longer depending on the adjournments sought by Chidambaram’s lawyers. Even if it goes against the home minister, he can challenge it in the Supreme Court, which could take at least a year. By the time a final verdict is passed, the term of the current Lok Sabha might be over.
If Chidambaram’s detractors within the Congress use this as a chance to convince the leadership that a window exists for an overhaul of the ministry — something for which UPA-II has not shown stomach till now — matters can get complicated for the minister.
Chidambaram ruled out his resignation, as demanded by BJP president Nitin Gadkari and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa. He said the high court decision was not a setback for him but for his rival, petitioner Raja Kannappan of the AIADMK, whom he had defeated narrowly by 3,354 votes.
“I am astonished by the monumental ignorance displayed by certain political leaders. This is an election petition. There are 111 election petitions filed against members of the 15th Lok Sabha,” he said.
Chidambaram’s lawyer T. Sathyamurthy, too, brushed aside the calls for the home minister’s head, saying: “The trial has not yet started and the case is at a preliminary stage; and the court has not expressed any view on the merits of the allegations.”
Sathyamurthy denied that Chidambaram had filed any petition seeking the quashing of Kannappan’s election petition as made out by some news channels.
“That is not permitted in the law. We had only filed a civil miscellaneous petition under the Civil Procedure Code to strike out certain pleadings (accusations), which has been partially allowed by the court,” he said.
Chidambaram’s lawyer said the petition consisted of 27 paragraphs (which some construed as 27 charges).
A senior lawyer, not connected with Chidambaram’s case, said the home minister’s legal team had sought to have Kannappan’s petition dismissed by faulting the procedure and not over its merits.
“It is normal practice to use a civil miscellaneous petition under the Civil Procedure Code to trip or delay the main petition. This is what Chidambaram’s team has done. They have succeeded partially, but they still have 27 pleadings to rebut during the hearing of the main petition,” he said.
