The Supreme Court is set to consider a plea by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R. Seenivasa Sethupathi challenging the Madras High Court’s interim order that barred him from participating in any Tamil Nadu Assembly floor test proceedings due to a one-vote victory dispute. The Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Sethupathi is scheduled for hearing on May 13 before a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi. The Madras High Court had restrained Sethupathi from involvement in any voting proceedings in the Assembly until further orders.
Sethupathi moved the Supreme Court against the interim order issued by a vacation Bench of the Madras High Court, preventing him from voting or engaging in any floor test activities in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The order resulted from a writ petition by former Tamil Nadu Minister and DMK leader K.R. Periakaruppan, who lost the Tiruppattur Assembly seat by just one vote. The Election Commission of India declared Sethupathi the winner with 83,365 votes against Periakaruppan’s 83,364 votes.
The Madras High Court highlighted a peculiar situation where a postal ballot intended for one constituency was mistakenly sent to another, leading to rejection. It emphasized the importance of every vote in an election decided by a one-vote margin. The court directed the preservation of all records related to the counting process and the disputed postal ballot, stressing the significance of electoral integrity in such cases.
