High Court dismisses MK Stalin’s plea against TVK MLA victory in Tamil Nadu polls

The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief MK Stalin challenging the victory of his opponent from the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in the Kolathur constituency in the Assembly elections, Live Law reported.

The plea was not maintainable, said a bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan.

In the election results declared on May 4, the former Tamil Nadu chief minister lost the Kolathur constituency in northern Chennai by more than 8,700 votes against the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s VS Babu.

TVK had emerged as the single largest party in the state and formed the government in alliance with the Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the Indian Union Muslim League, and outside support from Left parties.

On May 7, Stalin filed an application seeking verification of 14 of the 286 electronic voting machines used in Kolathur, reported Bar and Bench.

He had said that burnt memory of the machines should be checked for tampering or modification, Live Law reported.

A burnt memory of the EVM stores recorded votes, settings and operational data even after the machine is switched off. It is verified as part of post-election checks.

The verification process after the Tamil Nadu polls began on July 29.

Stalin submitted in the court that two of the 14 EVMs had stopped working immediately after being taken up for...

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