COIMBATORE: S Soundaravadivu (40), who was backed by the AIADMK, has been declared as winner in the elections for the post of Chinna Thadagam village panchayat president that was held in 2019. She defeated her rival by two votes. The result was withheld as she had approached the court seeking a recount of votes.
The election was held on December 30, 2019. K Sudha (48) contested with the support of DMK against S Soundaravadivu (40). Sudha was declared as the winner in January 2020 by a margin of four votes. But, she was not given the winning certificate and officials told her that there was an error in counting. The next day officials declared Soundaravadivu as the winner and that she secured three votes more than Sudha.
Following the results, Sudha moved Principal District court in February 2020 demanding a recount. In January this year, the court ordered the district returning officer/ District collector to conduct a re-counting of votes within 15 days and submit it to court. Based on the order, the re-counting of votes was held on January 24.
On Thursday the court announced the results and declared Soundaravadivu as the winner. She secured 2553 votes, two more than Sudha (2551 votes). Another independent Malliga secured 65 votes and the remaining 206 votes were declared invalid.
When asked which leader she supported, Soundaravadivu said MLA PRG Arunkumar (EPS team) is guiding them. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Sudha filed another petition before the court objecting to the re-counting claiming there is a vote difference in the total number of votes polled in the election. She alleged two different vote counts were given on first counting and re-counting. Hence she requested the court to get the district collector’s clarification in this regard and pass suitable orders.