Allowing Appavu’s election petition seeking to declare Inbadurai's victory null and void, Justice G Jayachandran of the Madras High Court observed that the case had remained pending for nearly a decade due to the intervention of the Supreme Court. "If delay caused by courts is going to undermine the spirit of adult franchise and democracy, I fear that this country may also go in the way of other countries that gained independence along with us," Justice Jayachandran said.

The court directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Legislative Assembly Secretariat to replace Inbadurai's name with Appavu's in all official records relating to the 2016–21 Assembly term. It also held that Inbadurai would not be entitled to pensionary benefits for the period, though no other disqualification would follow.

In the 2016 Assembly election, Inbadurai was declared elected from Radhapuram by a wafer-thin margin of 49 votes. Challenging the result, Appavu contended that 203 postal ballots had been wrongly rejected on the ground that they were attested by government middle school headmasters, who were allegedly not gazetted officers. He also alleged irregularities in the counting of votes in the final three rounds.

After hearing the petition, Justice Jayachandran ordered a recount of the postal ballots and votes polled in 34 EVMs counted during the 19th, 20th and 21st rounds on May 19, 2016. Inbadurai challenged the recount order before the Supreme Court, which, by an interim order dated October 23, 2019, permitted the recount to proceed but restrained authorities from declaring the result.

Appavu won the election in 2021 and became Assembly Speaker, while Inbadurai was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by his party.