Madras High Court to Rule on Stalin's Kolathur EVM Verification Plea
Madras High Court will pronounce its order on MK Stalin's plea for 100% VVPAT counting in Kolathur, where he lost by 8,795 votes.
The Madras High Court is scheduled to deliver its verdict on September 3 regarding a petition filed by DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. The plea challenges his defeat in the Kolathur assembly constituency during the recent state elections and requests a complete count of VVPAT slips.
Stalin, who had held the Kolathur seat since its formation in 2011, lost to TVK candidate VS Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes. Babu secured 82,997 votes against Stalin's 74,202. The DMK chief has asked the court to invalidate Babu's election and declare him the rightful winner.
The core of the dispute lies in the post-election verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Stalin had applied for verification of 14 EVM sets—5% of the 286 used in the constituency—on May 7, shortly after results were declared on May 4. However, the verification process was only conducted between July 29 and August 5. Stalin's legal team argues this delay by election authorities hampered his ability to file a challenge within the statutory period.
During the verification, his petition cites several technical irregularities, including a VVPAT unit displaying an error during a mock poll, a Control Unit failing to recognize a Ballot Unit bearing Stalin's name, and incomplete address tags on some components. These findings, he contends, justify a full audit of all EVMs and a 100% count of VVPAT slips.
The Election Commission has opposed the maintainability of the writ petition, asserting that election results can only be challenged through an election petition under the Representation of the People Act. Stalin's counsel has countered that his initial request was timely and that he should not be penalized for delays caused by the election body. The court reserved its order on August 31 after hearing both sides.