The Madras High Court has declared former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu as the duly elected candidate from the Radhapuram Assembly Constituency for the 2016-2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly term, nearly 10 years after the election was held.
The single-judge Bench of Justice G Jayachandran on Wednesday allowed the election petition filed by Appavu, challenging the election of AIADMK candidate IS Inbadurai, who had originally been declared elected by a margin of 49 votes in the 2016 Assembly elections.
The Court expressed serious concern over the prolonged delay in deciding the election dispute and observed that such delays undermined democratic governance and the constitutional principle of adult franchise. It noted that the extraordinary delay had effectively deprived voters of the constituency of their legitimately elected representative during the entire tenure of the Assembly.
Emphasising the statutory mandate under Section 86(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which requires expeditious disposal of election petitions, the Court remarked that failure to adhere to such timelines strikes at the very foundation of democratic institutions.
It further observed that the judiciary, as the guardian of the Constitution, must act in harmony with other constitutional organs to preserve the democratic framework of the country. It cautioned that continued disregard of the requirement for prompt adjudication of election disputes could erode public confidence in the electoral process.
The Bench described the case as a grave miscarriage of justice, observing that the electorate of Radhapuram had been compelled to accept a representative who was ultimately found not to have been validly elected. According to the Court, the facts of the case revealed a disturbing example of justice being delayed to such an extent that the entire elected term expired before the dispute could attain finality.
Appavu, who contested the election as a candidate of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), contended in his petition that several valid votes cast in his favour had been wrongly rejected and sought a recount of votes.
The respondent opposed the request, arguing that 203 postal ballots had been rightly rejected because they were attested by Headmasters of Middle Schools who, according to the respondent, were not gazetted officers. It was contended that the applicable election rules required postal ballots to be attested only by gazetted officers.
In 2019, the High Court passed an interim order directing the recounting of all votes, including postal ballots and votes recorded through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). The recount exercise was conducted on the High Court premises on October 4, 2019.
However, on the very same day, the Supreme Court entertained a Special Leave Petition challenging the recount order and directed that the results of the recount should not be declared pending further proceedings. The appeal remained pending before the Supreme Court for nearly six years and was ultimately disposed of on May 21, 2026, on the ground that the Assembly term had already expired and the passage of time rendered further adjudication unnecessary.
The High Court expressed dissatisfaction with this course of action, observing that the Apex Court ought to have adjudicated the substantive legal issue regarding whether the Headmasters were competent authorities to attest postal ballots. The Court noted that it had already rendered findings on that question while exercising its jurisdiction as the trial court in the election petition.
Upon examining the materials that were placed before the Supreme Court, the High Court noted that out of the disputed 203 postal ballots, 153 valid votes were found to have been cast in favour of Appavu, while only one valid postal vote was found in favour of Inbadurai. Based on the recount results, the Court concluded that Appavu had in fact secured victory by a margin of 103 votes.
The Court further observed that it had already held in 2019 that Headmasters were authorised to attest the identity of electors for the purpose of postal ballots. Although that finding had been challenged before the Supreme Court, it was never set aside or reversed. Consequently, the High Court held that the postal ballots in question were valid and had been wrongly excluded from the final tally.
In view of these findings, the Court declared Appavu as the successful candidate from the Radhapuram Assembly Constituency for the 2016-2021 Assembly term. While refraining from disqualifying Inbadurai, the Court directed that he would not be entitled to claim pensionary or other benefits available to former Members of the Legislative Assembly for that tenure.
The Court also directed the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly to correct all official records by substituting Appavu’s name as the elected representative of the Radhapuram Assembly Constituency for the 2016-2021 Assembly term.
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