VIRUDHUNAGAR: Examining the petition submitted by DMDK’s Vijaya Prabhakaran, who has sought recounting of votes after his defeat in Virudhunagar constituency in the Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has asked District Collector-cum-Returning Officer VP Jeyaseelan to submit detailed information and video evidence.
DMDK candidate Prabhakaran was pitted against two-time MP Manickam Tagore in the Virudhunagar constituency. In the neck-to-neck fight, Prabhakaran lost to Tagore by a margin of 4,379 votes. Interestingly, Prabhakaran was leading until the seventh round of counting.
But the tables turned in the eighth round, when Tagore overtook the son of late actor and DMDK chief Vijayakanth. Tagore secured a total of 3,85,256 votes.
Shortly after the poll results were declared, Prabhakaran’s mother and party general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth alleged malice in vote counting.
She further said on June 4, counting of votes at the centre in Virudhunagar was stalled from 3 pm to 5 pm. “Vote counting in Virudhunagar ended at 1 am on June 5. But, CM MK Stalin announced that DMK had won in all 40 seats before counting concluded. How did he predict the results?,” asked Premalatha. Officials sources said the ECI will announce its decision soon.