Former DMK minister Periyakaruppan (left) lost the Tiruppattur seat to TVK’s Seenivas Sethupathy (right) by one vote in the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections Photo Credit: Special Event
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former minister KR Periyakaruppan, who lost by one vote during the 2026 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court to prevent his opponent Seenivas Sethupathy of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) from contesting the trust vote before May 13 in the state assembly or the trust. 2026.
A bench of Justices L. Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar is scheduled for summer vacation to take up the petition for an urgent hearing during a special session on Sunday (May 10, 2026) as the petitioner alleged that the votes cast in his Tirupattur constituency in Sivaganga district were not properly recounted and therefore the elected candidate is not allowed to participate in any legislative process.
Judges will first decide on the maintainability of the claim before moving on to the merits of the case.
The case assumes significance in light of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s decision to swear in Chief Minister-designate C. Joseph Vijay on Sunday (May 10, 2026) on the condition that he must seek a vote of confidence from the Legislative Assembly on or before May 13, 2026. A potential injunction would prevent Mr Khu from participating in the proceedings. one vote in the House.
In 2021, Mr. Periyakaruppan won the Tirupattur seat with a comfortable margin of 18% against AIADMK’s Marudhu Alaguraj. However, in the 2026 polls, he fought a direct fight against the TVK candidate and was leading by 30 votes by the end of the penultimate round of counting.
However, after the final round, Mr. Sethupathy was declared the winner by a single vote.
Election officials said the TVK candidate secured 83,365 votes against Mr. Periyakaruppan’s 83,364 votes. Although a recount was also held because of the small margin, the petitioner challenged the process, claiming that the postal votes were not counted properly. He insisted that the video recording of the re-verification process must be submitted to the court to determine whether it was done according to the Returning Officers’ Manual.
Pending disposal of his main writ petition, the former minister had also sought an interim direction barring the TVK candidate, declared winner in the Tirupattur constituency, from participating in “any legislative process in the 17th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly”.
If the court grants the interim order, the TVK MLA may not be able to participate in the trust vote to be held in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
Published – 9 May 2026 11:00 PM IST
