Interim restraint on Assembly voting
The Madras High Court has issued an interim order restraining TRK MLA Srinivasa Sethupathi, elected from the Tiruppathur constituency in Sivaganga district, from participating in Assembly voting procedures such as trust votes and no-confidence motions.
Petition by rival candidate
The order came on a petition filed by DMK candidate and former minister Periyakaruppan, who contested against Sethupathi. The petitioner sought to bar the MLA from participating in Assembly proceedings, citing the razor-thin margin of victory—just one vote.
Court’s observations on postal ballot issue
Hearing the matter as an urgent case during the summer vacation sitting, the bench noted that the dispute involved an unusual situation: a postal ballot meant for one constituency being sent to another. The judges observed that the law does not clearly spell out the course of action for such a scenario, and that the petition—seeking preservation of the disputed postal ballot and related video records—could not be treated as a routine election petition.
Why the restraint was granted
The court said the case could not be dismissed as insignificant given the one-vote margin and the potential impact of a trust vote on the survival of a government. While it did not declare the election result invalid at this stage, it held that allowing the MLA to vote in a trust motion could cause serious prejudice to the petitioner, and therefore imposed the restraint to maintain constitutional neutrality.
Directions to preserve evidence
The High Court directed the Election Commission to preserve all materials connected to the vote count in the Sivaganga Tiruppathur constituency. It also ordered that any postal ballot belonging to that constituency, if received in Tiruppathur district’s Tiruppathur constituency, be identified, separated, sealed and kept safe, along with video recordings related to counting, verification and rejection of postal ballots. The court clarified that the order should not be treated as declaring the MLA’s victory void, declaring the petitioner elected, or directing recounting or interference with the declared results.
