“Atrocious”: Supreme Court stays Madras HC order restraining TVK MLA from voting in floor tests

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the Madras High Court's order by which it had restrained Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA R Seenivasa Sethupathi from voting in any floor test or trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly [Seenivasa Sethupathi Vs Periakaruppan].

A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi termed the High Court order as "atrocious" and proceeded to stay the same.

"We have heard the senior counsels for the parties. Counsel for the respondent is granted two weeks. In the meantime the order shall remain stayed, further proceedings before the High Court also stayed," the Supreme Court directed.

The top court passed the stay order on a plea filed by Sethupathi against the Madras High Court order.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appeared for Sethupathi.

Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Sethupathi's opposing candidate, KR Periakaruppan from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Sethupathi had won the recent assembly election from No.185 Tiruppattur constituency in Sivagangai district by a margin of one vote against KR Periakaruppan.

Periakaruppan then moved the Madras High Court, alleging discrepancies in the counting process. He also claimed that a postal ballot was not counted after it was sent to the wrong constituency.

The postal ballot meant for No.185 Tiruppattur Assembly Constituency was wrongly sent to No.50 Tiruppattur Assembly Constituency in Tirupattur district, he said.

He argued that the ballot ought to have been sent to the correct Returning Officer instead of being rejected.

Periakaruppan also alleged discrepancies in the EVM vote figures. He claimed that there was an 18-vote difference between the consolidated counting abstract and figures available on the Election Commission website.

The High Court on Tuesday passed an interim order restraining Sethupathi from participating in legislative assembly proceedings till further orders. It restrained Sethupathi from voting or otherwise taking part in any floor test, including a confidence motion, no-confidence motion, trust vote or any voting proceeding in the Tamil Nadu Assembly where the numerical strength of the House is tested.

The order meant that the TVK-led alliance would have a wafer thin majority of one MLA in the 234-strong Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. The TVK alliance currently has 120 MLAs in the house. With the High Court's order, only 119 can participate in the house proceedings.

However, the High Court clarified that the interim order would not amount to setting aside Sethupathi’s election. It also said that the order would not confer any right on Periakaruppan to be declared elected.

This led to the appeal before the top court by Sethupathi.

Singhvi was briefed by advocates Dixita Gohil, Pranjal Agarwal, Rupali Samuel and Yash S Vijay.