Chennai, Sept 1:
The Madras High Court on Monday reserved orders on a petition filed by former Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin challenging the election of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate VS Babu from the Kolathur Assembly constituency.
A First Bench comprising Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan said it would pass orders after considering the submissions made by both sides.
Stalin, who had won the Kolathur seat in three consecutive elections since the constituency came into existence in 2011, was defeated by Babu in the 2026 Assembly election.
Babu secured 82,997 votes, while Stalin polled 74,202 votes, giving the TVK candidate a victory margin of 8,795 votes.
In his petition, Stalin alleged discrepancies between votes recorded in Electronic Voting Machines and corresponding VVPAT slips at six polling stations. He sought recounting of votes and a declaration that Babu’s election was invalid.
Stalin also raised concerns over the functioning and verification of EVMs and VVPAT machines used in the constituency and sought permission from the Election Commission of India to inspect the machines.
Following the ECI’s permission, a team of lawyers led by senior advocate N R Ilango inspected the EVMs, VVPATs and control units kept at Chintadripet. Machines used in 14 polling booths were inspected in the presence of an engineer appointed by Bharat Electronics Limited.
Stalin’s side claimed that discrepancies were detected at six polling stations when EVM results were compared with the corresponding VVPAT slips. A letter was subsequently submitted to the concerned election authorities highlighting the alleged discrepancies.
He also alleged that several EVMs had malfunctioned and raised concerns over technical issues relating to their software and hardware.
The ECI later conducted a week-long verification exercise in the constituency from July 29 following Stalin’s apprehensions.
During the hearing, senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for Stalin, argued that the ECI had undertaken the verification only after 45 days had elapsed from the declaration of results. He contended that the delay had effectively prevented Stalin from filing an election petition within the prescribed period.
ECI counsel Dama Seshadri Naidu opposed the plea, arguing that the concerns should have been raised at the appropriate stage and that the petitioner could not seek relief after delaying the exercise of his rights.
The ECI also pointed out that its guidelines governing EVM verification had been amended in 2025.
Stalin’s counsel subsequently sought permission to withdraw another writ petition challenging provisions of the ECI’s standard operating procedure, after the court pointed out that the petition challenged the 2024 procedure rather than the amended 2025 guidelines.
The Bench allowed the withdrawal and granted Stalin liberty to file a fresh petition challenging the latest SOP.
The court has now reserved its orders on the main petition challenging Babu’s election.