The Madras High Court on Thursday rejected a request made for an urgent hearing of a writ petition to be filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) deputy general secretary A. Raja challenging an order passed by the Election Commission of India reprimanding him for his “obscene speech lowering the dignity of motherhood,” delisting him from the list of star campaigners of his party and debarring him from campaigning for 48 hours.
When the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy resumed work after lunch recess on Thursday, a senior counsel representing Mr. Raja informed the judges about the ECI having passed such an order about half an hour ago. He said a writ petition would be filed before the end of the day challenging the ECI’s order and requested the court to take it up for hearing on Friday as a special case since it was a holiday on account of Good Friday.
However, the Chief Justice refused to accede to the request and said no such permission could be granted.
