Terming it “atrocious,” the Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed a Madras High Court order restraining newly elected Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R. Seenivasa Sethupathi from voting in any floor test or trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. Sethupathi won the Tiruppattur Assembly constituency in Sivagangai district by a margin of one vote.
Staying the High Court order and further proceedings in the matter, a Bench of Justice Vikram Nath, Justice Sandeep Mehta and Justice Vijay Bishnoi observed, “This (order) is atrocious to say the least,” while noting that the High Court passed the impugned order on a petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution by defeated candidate K.R. Periakaruppan.
The Supreme Court noted that a challenge to an election result can only be raised through an election petition. It observed that although the High Court acknowledged that an election petition was the proper remedy, it nevertheless proceeded to pass directions in proceedings initiated under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The apex court issued notice to Periakaruppan, who had lost the election to Seenivasa Sethupathi.
Periakaruppan had approached the High Court alleging discrepancies in the counting process, including the alleged rejection of a postal ballot after it was mistakenly sent to another constituency.
According to him, a postal ballot meant for the Tiruppattur constituency in Sivagangai district was wrongly sent to the Tiruppattur Assembly constituency in Tirupattur district and was consequently rejected. He contended that had the postal ballot been counted in the correct constituency, the result would have ended in a tie between him and the winning candidate.
Periakaruppan had also raised objections regarding alleged discrepancies in the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) vote figures.