The Madras High Court on Thursday quashed four cases booked against former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who had recently joined the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), for alleged election offences committed when he contested as an independent candidate from Ramanathapuram Lok Sabha constituency in 2024.
Justice A.D. Jagadish Chandira allowed all the four quash petitions after hearing the arguments advanced by advocate P. Rajalakshmi for the former Chief Minister and Additional Public Prosecutor K.M.D. Muhilan who said the charges were related to canvassing beyond the permitted time limit of 10 pm and so on.
The APP said, one of the four cases was booked for having canvassed at Keezhakarai Alavaikaravadi at 10:05 am along with the members belonging to other political parties and also by bursting crackers during the night hours on April 4, 2024. The case had been booked on a complaint lodged by a flying squad member.
Similarly, one more case had been booked against Mr. Panneerselvam for travelling along with more than three motor vehicles to canvas for votes at Andavurani North village and near Tirupullani on April 3, 2024 and on April 4, 2024. The petitioner had claimed that all those cases had been booked due to political motive.
H. Raja bail condition modified
Justice Chandira also modified the condition imposed by the High Court in December 2024 while suspending the six months imprisonment imposed by a trial court on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader H. Raja in two different criminal cases related to certain offensive tweets posted on his X handle in 2018.
On being told that the convict had suffered a stroke recently, the judge modified the condition which required him to appear before the trial court every month. Justice Chandira said, it would be sufficient if the convict, whose appeals were pending in the High Court, was represented by his lawyer before the trial court.
The first case against the appellant was related to a April 18, 2018 tweet containing offensive remarks with a veiled reference to former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi and his daughter Kanimozhi and the second case was for a March 6, 2018 tweet in support of demolition of rationalist leader Thanthai Periyar’s statues.
TVK leader ‘Bussy’ Anand
The judge also extended by two more weeks an interim order granted in favour of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) general secretary N. Anand alias ‘Bussy’ Anand in a criminal case booked against him on charges of causing traffic disruption when he visited a Vinayagar temple near Tiruchi airport in September 2025.
Then, he had visited Tiruchi to seek police permission for the party president C. Joseph Vijay’s political campaign. On the way, he had halted at the Vinayagar Temple to offer prayers along with the letter seeking permission. Huge number of his party cadres had followed him and parked their cars on the road disrupting vehicular traffic.
Published – March 05, 2026 08:38 pm IST
