The Madras high court on Wednesday directed the Tamil Nadu government to remove at once, all the posters put up by political parties in furtherance of the local body elections, scheduled for February 19, throughout Chennai.

The first bench of Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy, which gave the direction while passing orders on a PIL petition from city resident P Arumugam, a contestant in the elections, also directed the authorities that the posters and other materials should be removed at the cost of the political parties concerned.

Any violation of this directive would attract contempt of court proceedings, the bench warned.

Arumugam, contesting in Ward No. 117 for the post of Councillor, levelled various allegations against the ruling DMK, including misusing the government machinery to ensure the success of its candidate.

Petitioner's posters were torn off and replaced with the ones of the DMK candidate, he further alleged and filed the present petition as there was no action on his police complaint.