Madras HC stays election process to mayor's post

The Madras high court on Thursday stayed for two months the election process to the post of Chennai city mayor.

The post had fallen vacant following disqualification of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader M K Stalin by the high court last August. He was stripped of the post, as his election violated Madras Corporation rules, which barred persons occupying the post of mayor for second consecutive time.

A bench comprising Chief Justice B Subhashan Reddy and Justice C Nagappan granted the interim stay on a petition filed by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legislator V Maitreyan.

Maitreyan is seeking to declare AIADMK's N Balaganga as mayor in place of Stalin, son of former Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi. Balaganga had secured the second highest number of votes.

Maitreyan also sought a direction to stay the election process, as the disposal of his petition was still pending.

Advocate General N R Chandran and the petitioner's counsel N Jothi submitted a report that an all-party meeting held in last November had agreed to postpone the election process by two months since preparation of electoral rolls was not completed.