Chennai
“There is a question of law involved in the case that whether middle school headmasters can attest the postal ballot votes. The question has never arisen in any of the courts. This was an unprecedented case in the country and I put forth my argument on the same lines in the High Court,” said Inbadurai, while addressing reporters in Chennai.
In 2016 state Assembly elections, Inbadurai defeated DMK candidate Appavu in Radhapuram constituency by a slender margin of 49 votes. While counting, 201 postal ballot votes were not included as they were claimed illegal. Immediately, after the declaration of results Appavu filed a petition challenging the decision of Election Commission (EC) for declaring the 201 postal ballot votes illegal. The case in now pending in the Supreme Court and Inbadurai addressed the reporters about the rumours circulating on social media.
“In the last couple of days there were many rumours doing rounds on several media about recounting in Radhapuram constituency and initially I thought that as the case was pending in the court and myself being a lawyer, I should not speak on the issue, but if I continue to remain silent the lie will travel throughout the world,” said Inbadurai.
He also said that he asked the election officials to declare the 201 postal votes illegal as they were not properly attested. “All 201 votes were signed by a single middle school headmaster. There is doubt that how can people residing in various cities can get attestation from a single person residing in Radhapuram and when I raised the doubt with the election officials they agreed and declared the votes illegal,” said Inbadurai.
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