The Madras High Court on Friday set aside the election of A.K. Bose (since deceased) of the AIADMK from the Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency in a bypoll conducted in November 2016, when Jayalalithaa was hospitalised. It held that two top Election Commission (EC) officials had “played a fraud in connivance with the ruling party” by accepting the AIADMK supremo’s thumb impression on the candidate’s nomination papers. Justice P. Velmurugan came down heavily on the then Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Lakhoni as well as Principal Secretary to the EC K.F. Wilfred in his judgment on an election petition preferred by Madurai-based oncologist P. Saravanan of the DMK. The judge allowed the petition and set aside the election of Bose, though he died on August 2, 2018 when the case was pending