THANJAVUR: A group of Dalits in Puthagaram, a reserved seat, in Tiruvidaimarudur panchayat union alleged that the candidate who has been elected as panchayat president was not from the SC community. The residents along with the six persons who contested for the post-
Kumarasamy, Rajendran, Arivazhagan, PadmanahVd, Loganathan and Ramachandran came to the district collectorate on Monday and presented a petition to the district administration.
They alleged that victorious candidate belonged to a Christian community which came under Backward Class. Hence they wanted the cancellation of the election and urged chance should be given for an SC candidate.
Speaking to Express, retired justice K Chandru said there was no legal hurdle for Dalits who had converted to other religions for contesting in a reserved seat. “There is no bar in contesting in elections of a constituency reserved for SC candidates for a Christian convert. He just has to show the documents to prove he is a Dalit, if an election petition is filed in the court”, he said.