The Supreme Court today pulled up Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for filing four nominations during the 2001 Assembly polls.
"You had held top post in the state and held post only below to his excellency. You are a public figure in the state and you run a party. How can you do this?" a Bench of Justices H L Dattu and C K Prasad said while hearing a plea of the AIADMK chief seeking quashing of criminal proceedings against her for filing four nominations.
She had approached the apex court challenging Madras High Court's order directing the Election Commission to register a case against her in a magistrate court but the proceedings were stayed by the Supreme Court in July 2007.
The apex court also criticised the Returning Officer(RO) of the Election Commission for not initiating proceedings against her after she filed multiple nomination papers.
"Here is the Returning Officer who wanted to tow the line of this lady," the bench observed.
The bench also said that the High Court was not right in directing the Election Commission to register the case and it should have just directed the RO to re-examine the issue.
Senior advocate U U Lalit, appearing for the Chief Minister, submitted there was no suppression of facts on her part and she had revealed all informations in her nomination paper.
