Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin has approached the Madras High Court challenging the election of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate VS Babu from the Kolathur Assembly constituency in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
Stalin, who contested from Kolathur, has sought the invalidation of Babu's victory, alleging irregularities in the functioning and verification of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and VVPATs used in the constituency.
According to the petition, permission was sought from the Election Commission to inspect the voting machines used in Kolathur. Following approval, a team of lawyers led by senior advocate N.R. Ilango inspected the EVMs, VVPATs and control units kept at Chintadripet.
The petition said the machines and VVPAT units from polling stations 1, 17, 28, 32, 75, 78, 79, 84, 87, 112, 122, 157 and 170 were examined. An engineer appointed by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) was also present during the inspection.
Stalin claimed that the votes recorded in the EVMs were compared with the corresponding VVPAT slips in all the inspected machines.
According to the petition, discrepancies and other irregularities were found during the comparison at six polling stations. Stalin said the authorised election representative subsequently submitted a letter to the concerned election officer highlighting the alleged discrepancies.
The petition also alleged that EVMs had malfunctioned at several polling stations and claimed that some machines had technical issues relating to their software and hardware.
Stalin said that despite these concerns being raised, the election officer maintained that the testing and verification process had been carried out in accordance with the prescribed guidelines.
Seeking greater transparency in the process for raising complaints concerning election machinery, Stalin has urged the court to order a comprehensive verification of all EVMs and VVPATs used in the Kolathur constituency.
He has also sought the cancellation of Babu's election on the grounds of the alleged irregularities and requested that he be declared the winner.
The election petition is expected to come up for hearing before the Madras High Court soon.
