TN chief electoral officer appears in court

Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhani today appeared before the Madras High Court to give evidence in a petition filed by R Saravanan of the DMK, challenging the election of the AIADMK's A K Bose in the Thirupparankundram Assembly bypoll in November, 2016.
Lakhani appeared before Justice P Velmurugan and gave his evidence in the petition, in which the validity of the left thumb impression (LTI) attestation of late AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa has also been questioned.
Advocate Arunkumar, appearing on behalf of the petitioner, put several questions to Lakhani.
The matter relates to the Thirupparankundram bypoll, in which Bose defeated Saravanan when Jayalalithaa was admitted to the Apollo Hospital here as she was seriously ill.

In his petition, Saravanan had raised a doubt about the LTI of the former chief minister in forms 'A' and 'B' of Bose when she was in an unconscious state in the hospital.
The judge fixed September 1 as the next date in the matter, when the witnesses will be cross-examined.