HC orders recounting of postal votes polled in the 2021 Tenkasi Assembly constituency elections

The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered recounting of the postal votes polled in the 2021 Tenkasi Assembly constituency election in which Congress candidate S. Palani Nadar was declared elected by a margin of 370 votes. The court also ordered that the recounting must be commenced and completed within the next 10 days.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday ordered recounting of the postal votes polled in the 2021 Tenkasi Assembly constituency election in which Congress candidate S. Palani Nadar was declared elected by a margin of 370 votes. The court also ordered that the recounting must be commenced and completed within the next 10 days.

Justice G. Jayachandran passed the orders on an election petition filed by S. Selva Mohandas Pandian of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) who challenged the victory of his rival candidate. The election petitioner had alleged grave irregularities in the counting of postal votes by the Returning Officer on May 2, 2021.

Finding force in his submissions, the judge directed the District Election Officer to nominate a competent officer for recount of the postal ballots and ordered the entire process of recounting must be videographed. He also ordered that the result of the election must be declared on the basis of the recounting process.

During the recounting process, either the candidates or their representatives must be allowed to be present next to the counting table, he said. The orders were passed after hearing senior counsel T.V. Ramanujam, assisted by B. Arvind Srevatsa, for the election petitioner who complained that the postal ballots were not counted first on May 2.

The petitioner alleged though the rules require counting of postal ballots before counting the votes polled in Electronic Voting Machines, the Returning Officer had counted the postal ballots only after completion of 27 rounds of counting of the votes polled through EVMs.