The Madras High Court in an interim order on Tuesday restrained Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate Seenivasa Sethupathi, who won from the Tiruppattur constituency in Tamil Nadu assembly elections, from participating in the state legislative assembly, floor test and confidence motion on May 13.
A bench of justices L Victoria Gowri and N Senthil Kumar in an interim order, restrained Sethupathi following a dispute over a postal ballot from the Tiruppattur assembly constituency.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the court on Monday that the poll body had no jurisdiction to act on Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader KR Periyakaruppan’s complaint over a disputed postal ballot after the declaration of results.
Periyakaruppan moved the high court last week claiming that the election officials wrongly sent a postal ballot to another Tiruppattur constituency in Tirupattur instead of Sivagangai district, causing it to be rejected there.
Periyakaruppan lost by 83,374 votes, a margin of just one vote.
He argued that if the ballot was valid and counted in his favour, the election result would end in a tie.
Senior counsel G Rajagopalan appearing for ECI opposed the petition and told the court that Periyakaruppan did not produce any evidence to establish his claim. It also said that ECI ceased to have any role after the declaration of results.
He argued that Periyakaruppan’s claim rested solely on the version of an election agent.
ECI also disputed the suggestion that any error in postal ballots occurred. Calling it “a matter of evidence,”
The court however, said in its order that a “strong prima facie case” existed for issuing interim directions restraining Sethupathy.
It clarified, however, that Tuesday’s directions must not be mistaken as the court ordering a recounting of votes for the seat concerned.
A detailed order of the court is awaited.
