DMK’s Periyakaruppan moves Madras HC to prevent TVK MLA from participating in vote of confidence

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief and former Minster Okay.R. Periyakaruppan, who misplaced by one vote in the course of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Meeting elections 2026, has filed a writ petition in the Madras Excessive Court docket to prevent his opponent Seenivasa Sethupathy of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) from participating in the belief vote to be held in the State Meeting on or earlier than Might 13, 2026.

A summer season trip Bench of Justices L. Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar is scheduled to take up the writ petition for an pressing listening to throughout a particular sitting on Sunday (Might 10, 2026) because the petitioner had contended that the votes forged in his Tirupattur constituency in Sivaganga district weren’t recounted correctly and therefore the elected candidate should not be allowed to take part in any legislative course of.

The judges will first resolve the maintainability of the writ petition earlier than going into the deserves of the case.

The case assumes significance in the sunshine of Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s determination to administer oath of workplace to Chief Minister designate C. Joseph Vijay on Sunday (Might 10, 2026) on the situation that he should search the vote of confidence of the Legislative Meeting on or earlier than Might 13, 2026. Any court docket order stopping Mr. Sethupathy from participating in the proceedings would scale back the power of TVK by one vote in the Home.

In 2021, Mr. Periyakaruppan had received the Tirupattur seat with a cushty margin of 18% in opposition to Marudhu Alaguraj of AIADMK. Nevertheless, in the 2026 polls, he had a neck-to-neck battle in opposition to the TVK candidate and was main by 30 votes until the tip of the penultimate spherical of counting.

Nevertheless, after the ultimate spherical, Mr. Sethupathy was declared to have received by a single vote.

Election officers mentioned the TVK candidate secured 83,365 votes in opposition to Mr. Periyakaruppan’s 83,364 votes. Although a recounting of votes was additionally held due to the wafer skinny margin, the writ petitioner questioned the method and contended that the postal votes weren’t counted correctly. He inisisted that the video footage of the re-verification course of should be produced in court docket to discover out if it was performed as per the Handbook for the Returning Officers.

Pending adjudication of his principal writ petition, the previous Minister has additionally sought an interim route restraining the TVK candidate, declared as a winner in Tirupattur constituency, from participating “in any legislative course of in the seventeenth Tamil Nadu Legislative Meeting.”

If the court docket grants the interim order, the TVK MLA is probably not in a position to take part in the vote of confidence to be performed in the Tamil Nadu Meeting.