The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the Madras High Court on Monday that the poll body had no jurisdiction to act on Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader KR Periyakarupappan’s complaint over disputed postal ballots after the results were announced in the Tirupattur Assembly constituency elections.
The ECI told a bench of Justices L Victoria Gowri and N Senthil Kumar that Periyakaruppan did not raise any objections during the counting and argued that the ECI no longer had any role after the results were announced.
Senior advocate G Rajagopalan, appearing for ECI, also told the court that Periyakarupappan had not produced any evidence to substantiate the allegation that election officials had sent a postal ballot to the wrong Tirupattur constituency.
He said Periyakaruppan’s claim was based only on the election agent’s account and the DMK candidate had not provided any evidence to support his claim.
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The ECI also disputed the suggestion that the error in postal ballots had actually occurred at all. Terming it as a “matter of evidence”, Rajagopalan said the court could not proceed solely on the allegations without recording material proving how the ballot reached the wrong constituency.
Rajagopalan also argued that Periyakaruppan had not recorded any material to prove that the postal ballot meant for Tirupattur constituency in Sivagangai district had mistakenly gone to another Tirupattur constituency in Tirupattur district.
He said: “No material has been recorded showing how the postal ballot went to the wrong constituency of the same name. It is based on the imagination of an election agent. Our hands are tied.”
Senior advocate NR Elango, who appeared for Periyakarupappan, responded that the returning officer had informed them of the matter.
The court recorded the arguments and reserved its ruling on the petition.
The court also held a special urgent hearing on Sunday, May 10, on Periyakaruppan’s petition challenging the result in Tirupattur Assembly constituency, where he lost to TVK candidate R. Senivasa Sethupathi is one vote away in the April 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The results were announced on May 4.
Periyakaruppan claimed that election officials wrongly sent one postal ballot to another constituency in Tirupattur and rejected it there instead of sending it to the correct constituency. He said a disputed vote could change the outcome. If it is calculated in his favor, the elections will end in a tie.
On Sunday, senior lawyers Mukul Rohatgi and Elango, representing Periyakarupappan, said the case involved a unique situation involving one postal ballot out of 2,275 postal votes cast.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Sethupathi, had opposed the petition and said Periyakarupappan should file an election petition instead.
