The Madras High Court today rejected an application by Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking dismissal of the election petition filed by his immediate
AIADMK rival R S Raja Kannappan challenging his election to Lok Sabha from Sivaganga constituency in 2009 General Elections.

In his application, Chidambaram had contended that there were some defects in the petition filed by Kannappan, who lost the election by just 3,354 votes, and sought its dismissal. 

Dismissing Chidambaram's application, Justice K Venkatraman said, "There cannot be any doubt that an election petition filed with defects which cannot be curable cannot be considered as an election petition at the end. However, in the
case on hand, the defects pointed out by the officer concerned are not defects which are not curable warranting dismissal of the election petition."