Thaworn, the plaintiff, accused Election Commission chairman Vasana Puemlarp, and commissioners Prinya Nakchudtree and Virachai Naewboonnien of committing the offences under articles 24 and 42 of the Election Law 1998 for organising the second round general election on April 23 without authority.

The three commissioners were also accused of issuing circulars to Provincial Election Commissions to allow MP candidates to re-apply as candidates in other constituencies.

Thaworn testified that many Thai Rak Thai members who stood as sole candidates in the April 2 election won less than 20 per cent of the total votes, which they needed to be able to claim their seats. The EC resolved on April 7 to organise the second round election in 38 constituencies in 15 provinces.

He said the EC's resolution favoured the Thai Rak Thai Party because it allowed for new candidate registrations.

"Article 7/2 of the Constitution does not allow the EC to do that, but the EC just wanted to help Thai Rak Thai's sole candidates whose votes were less than 20 per cent," Thaworn said. He said circulars issued by the EC to Provincial Election Commissions also violated the EC's earlier announcement that allowed MP candidates to only apply in one constituency. "The EC intentionally did all these things to help the Thai Rak Thai Party to beat the 20 per cent rule," he said.

The EC also increased the days for MP candidate registration to accommodate Thai Rak Thai Party candidates who were not ready to supply registration documents.