Supreme Court stays Madras High Court order, paves way for TVK’s R Seenivasa Sethupathi to take part in floor test
The Madras High Court order came on a plea by DMK leader K R Periakaruppan, who had lost the election to TVK's Sethupathi by one vote.
TVK MLA R Seenivasa Sethupathi won the election against Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader K R Periakaruppan by one vote. (File photo). The Supreme Court Wednesday stayed the “effect and operation” of the Madras High Court order restraining Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R Seenivasa Sethupathi, from voting or taking part in the floor test of the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
A three-judge bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi also ordered that the proceedings before the Madras High Court in the pending writ petition will remain stayed.
The bench termed as “atrocious” the high court decision to entertain the writ petition even after agreeing that the appropriate remedy lay in filing an election petition. “The high court says the remedy is an election petition and still entertains the writ petition,” said Justice Mehta.
On Tuesday, the Madras High Court restrained Sethupathi, who had won the Tiruppattur district seat by one vote, from voting, and he subsequently moved the apex court.
The high court order came on a plea by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader K R Periakaruppan, who had lost the election to Sethupathi by one vote, alleging irregularities and discrepancies in vote counting.
Appearing for the MLA, Senior Advocate A M Singhvi said the high court order is in blatant disregard of the law laid down by the SC and added that the bench ought to pass some strictures.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Periakaruppan, countered the submission, saying that one postal ballot meant for his constituency had reached another constituency but was discarded, even though it was in his favour. Rohatgi contended that if it had come to the correct address, there would have been a tie.
However, the bench wondered how he could have filed a writ petition for that.
The high court order came on a plea by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader K R Periakaruppan, who had lost the election to Sethupathi by one vote, alleging irregularities and discrepancies in vote counting.
According to the petitioner, postal votes belonging to No. 185 were wrongly sent to No. 50 in the Tirupattur Assembly constituency.
“In an election decided by thousands of votes, such matters may stand on a different plane. But in an election decided by one vote, every vote is not merely relevant; it is potentially determinative. The petitioner’s grievance regarding the postal ballot is not a mere request for a recount,” said the Madras High Court.
“It is a complaint that a vote allegedly belonging to one constituency was dealt with by an authority of another constituency. If this allegation is ultimately found to be correct, the matter would not merely involve an error of counting but a jurisdictional defect in the handling of a valid electoral record.”
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