Madurai officer admits to Madras HC that he tampered with TN local body poll results

A Returning Officer in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, admitted to tampering with the results of the TN local body polls. He further said that he had done so due to pressure from DMK party cadres in the area.

In a shocking development, it has been discovered that the Returning Officer (RO) in Madurai district had tampered with the results of the TN urban local body polls. The officer has admitted to the offense and alleged that he had done so due to pressure from DMK party members.

The incident took place in T Kallupatti panchayat in Madurai district. On February 22, a (Public Interest Litigation) PIL was filed by R Palaniselvi (40), an independent candidate, stating that the results were tampered with to favour the DMK candidate.

The independent candidate, in her petition, had stated that she and the DMK candidate, R Subbulakshmi, had secured the same number of votes. To break the tie, a lot was done and this was videographed. Though Palaniselvi had won the tie, the election officer had announced Subbulakshmi as the winning candidate.

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The petitioner, in her PIL, had sought that the current election result be quashed and illegal. She further asked that she be declared as the winning candidate.

The case came before the first bench of Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy at Madras High Court. The RO, on March 7, admitted that he had changed the result in favour of the DMK candidate. He added that he had done so due to pressure from DMK party functionaries.

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