Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA Srinivasa Sethupathi, who won by one vote against DMK minister Periyakaruppan in the Tirupattur constituency, has filed a plea in the Supreme Court against the Madras High Court's interim order restraining him from participating in Assembly proceedings.
The plea was mentioned by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi at 2:45 pm before a bench led by Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant.
The plea, which has been filed through Advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal, Rupali Samuel and Yash S Vijay, has been allowed by the Court and will be heard tomorrow, 13th May.
The development follows the Madras High Court order today that restrained TVK MLA from participating in TN Assembly proceedings, including in the vote of confidence proceeding.
The High Court's decision came on a plea filed by DMK's Periya Karuppan seeking to restrain the TVK candidate from assuming office as an MLA, alleging that a postal ballot vote had been altered.
DMK raised a complaint stating that a vote meant to be recorded in Tirupattur Constituency No. 185 was wrongly transferred to Tirupattur Constituency No. 50 in Vellore district.
The High Court, in its interim order, directed that the TVK candidate Srinivasa Sethupathi not participate in the Assembly confidence vote.
Since the Election Commission of India (ECI) failed to take action on the complaint, Periya Karuppan approached the High Court.
The ECI stated that, as per the rules, no action is necessary if a complaint regarding postal ballot discrepancies is received after the commencement of vote counting. The ECI further stated that not even a single postal vote had been transferred to another constituency.
The High Court observed that there is sufficient evidence supporting the complaint submitted by Periya Karuppan.
The High Court also directed that all postal ballots must be kept safely secured. Additionally, the court ordered that the video footage related to the matter must also be preserved.
Now the High Court order has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
With inputs from ANI