E.V.K.S. Elangovan, former president of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, has filed a petition in the Madras High Court Bench here to quash a criminal defamation case filed against him for an alleged defamatory speech delivered by him against Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at Karungal Santhai ground in Kanyakumari district on September 27.

Claiming that filing of the defamation case was an abuse of process of law, the petitioner said that he was justified in commenting upon the working of the government from his point of view.