The Madras High Court ordered TVK candidate Srinivasa Sethupathi not to participate in the assembly’s trust vote.
Periya Karuppan filed a suit seeking to prevent the TVK candidate from taking office as an MLA, alleging that postal voting was tampered with.
A complaint was raised that the vote to be recorded in Tirupattur Constituency No. 185 was wrongly transferred to Tirupattur Constituency No. 50 in Vellore District.
As the Election Commission failed to take any action on the complaint, Periya Karuppan approached the Supreme Court.
The Electoral Commission noted that in accordance with the rules, no action needs to be taken if a complaint about irregularities in a postal ballot is received after the counting of votes has begun.
The Electoral Commission further stated that not a single postal vote was transferred to another electoral district.
The court observed that there was sufficient evidence to support the complaint filed by Periya Karuppan.
The court barred Srinivas Sethupathi from participating in the assembly’s trust vote as an MLA.
The court also ordered that all postal tickets must be securely secured.
In addition, the court ordered that video footage related to the matter must also be preserved.
More details are being added
