Reject 2021 election petition as term of 16th Assembly over, Duraimurugan urges Madras HC

Former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) minister Duraimurugan on Tuesday urged the Madras High Court to dismiss an election petition challenging his 2021 victory by a margin of 746 votes from the Katpadi Assembly constituency as the five-year term of the 16th Legislative Assembly ended on May 27.

Advocate Richardson Wilson, representing the former minister, appeared before Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan and urged the court to dismiss the 2021 election petition as it was filed by V. Ramu of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) on grounds such as improper rejection of certain valid votes and not on the basis of alleged electoral corruption practices.

The counsel relied on a series of judgments of the Supreme Court to argue that election petitions can be decided even after the term of the concerned legislature has ended only if they were filed on the ground that the returning candidate was alleged to have engaged in electoral corrupt practices and not on any other ground.

It was also informed to the court that Mr. Duraimurugan was declared elected as a returned candidate in 2021 when he got 85,140 votes against 84,394 votes secured by Mr. Ramu. He therefore claimed that some valid votes were wrongly rejected and that there were procedural violations during the vote counting process on May 2, 2021.

Although the election petition was pending in the High Court from 2021, the 16th Legislative Assembly completed its entire term. In fact, the election petitioner and the former minister contested from the same Katpadi constituency in the 2026 elections, but both lost to M. Sudhakar of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, he told the court.

Nothing therefore survives in this election petition to be decided, argued Mr Wilson.

The case of Appav

On the other hand, advocate Arvind Srevatsa, representing Mr. Rama, cited a recent judgment of the Madras High Court which allowed a 10-year-old election petition filed by former Assembly Speaker M. Appavu of the DMK against the returned candidate IS Inbadurai of the AIAADMK and claiming that the petitioner was elected from the Radhapuram constituency.

Arguing that Mr. Appava’s election petition was allowed even after 10 years, although the ground therein was also for rejection of valid votes and not for the alleged electoral corruption practice, the counsel argued that the present election petition should also be taken to court instead of being dismissed only on the ground of expiry of the 16th Legislative Assembly.

However, Mr. Wilson countered that the trial in Mr. Appava’s election case was over much before the expiry of the 15th Legislative Assembly and even the votes were recounted in 2019. The recount results themselves could not be declared till 2026 due to the Supreme Court’s interim order. Therefore, Mr. Appava’s case would not be applicable to the facts and circumstances of this case, he added.

Published – 23 Jun 2026 22:23 IST