CHENNAI: DMK's former minister for Co-operatives KR Periakaruppan has moved the Madras High Court seeking a recount of postal votes that were allegedly sent to No. 50 Tiruppattur constituency (near Vellore ) instead of No. 185 Tiruppattur Assembly constituency ( in Sivagangai district ) during the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The Assembly election results were announced on May 4, with Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) winning 108 seats. Periakaruppan, who contested on behalf of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), lost the election to TVK candidate Seenivasa Sethupathi by a margin of one vote in Tiruppattur ( Sivagangai ).
In this situation Periakaruppan filed a plea before Madras High Court. In his plea he sought directions to the Chief Election Commissioner, Chief Electoral Officer, Principal Secretary to Government (Elections Department), District Election Officer-cum-Collector of Sivagangai district, and the Returning Officers of constituencies No. 185 and No. 50 to preserve the postal ballots that were allegedly dispatched to the wrong constituency and include them in the count for No. 185 Tiruppattur constituency.
He has further sought an interim order restraining TVK’s Seenivasa Sethupathi from taking part in any proceedings of the 17th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly until the writ petition is decided. The petitioner has also sought directions to furnish the video footage of the re-verification process in the No. 185 constituency.
A special sitting of the vacation bench comprising Justice L. Victoria Gowri and Justice N. Senthil Kumar is likely to be held on Sunday (May 10) to urgently hear the matter.