Madras HC bars Vijay’s MLA from voting in TN Assembly:DMK candidate had lost Tiruppattur seat by 1 vote

The Madras High Court on Tuesday barred R Srinivas Sethupathi from participating in any voting in the 17th Assembly, including the upcoming trust vote. Sethupathi had defeated KR Periyakarupan in the Tiruppattur Assembly constituency by a margin of just one vote. Sethupathi secured 83,365 votes, while Periyakarupan polled 83,364. Periyakarupan had also sought a recount of votes and an interim order restraining Sethupathi from taking oath as an MLA. Following the interim stay granted by the vacation bench comprising Justices L Victoria Gowri and N Senthilkumar, Sethupathi will not be permitted to vote on any no-confidence motion either. Coincidentally, Chief Minister Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government is scheduled to face a floor test on 13 May, just three days after the swearing-in of the Chief Minister and his cabinet. Order to file affidavit with Election Commission Periyakaruppan contested the election from the 185 Tiruppattur assembly constituency of Sivaganga district in the 17th Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held on April 23. On May 4, TVK candidate Sethupathi was declared the winner. In the petition, Periyakaruppan has alleged serious irregularities in the vote counting process. He has claimed that there was a difference of 18 votes between the round-wise number of votes recorded in the EVM and the data published on the Election Commission of India’s website. He also alleged that a postal vote designated for the Tiruppattur seat was mistakenly sent to constituency number 50 in Tiruppattur. Instead of sending the vote to the correct place, the Returning Officer declared it invalid. Following this, on Sunday, the High Court in an order asked the Election Commission to file an affidavit explaining why it had not responded to the representation of DMK candidate Periyakaruppan. 3 pictures of Tamil Nadu Assembly 3 major developments in Tamil Nadu politics today ​