- Supreme Court suspended Madras High Court order barring MLA Sethupathi.
- Court granted two weeks for counter-affidavit on postal ballot dispute.
- Supreme Court stayed proceedings, citing election dispute resolution mechanisms.
- Sethupathi’s MLA status dispute preceded a successful confidence vote.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday suspended an interim order of the Madras High Court that had barred Srinivasa Sethupathi from participating in the Tamil Nadu Assembly confidence motion. A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi granted two weeks to K. R. Periakaruppan and other respondents to file their counter-affidavit in response to Sethupathi’s petition.
The apex court also stayed further proceedings in the matter, observing that election-related disputes fall within a constitutional mechanism and ordinarily should not be adjudicated through writ petitions.
Supreme Court Order Came During Floor Test
The court’s intervention coincided with the confidence motion faced by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. However, by the time the Supreme Court order was uploaded, Vijay had already comfortably secured the trust vote. The government received support from 144 MLAs, while 22 voted against the motion and five abstained.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) staged a walkout before voting began. Opposition leader Udhayanidhi Stalin announced the boycott during the Assembly proceedings.
The successful floor test further consolidated the position of the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK)-led government.
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Postal Ballot Dispute Triggered Legal Battle
The controversy originated from a dispute surrounding a postal ballot in the Tiruppattur constituency, where Sethupathi had defeated DMK candidate Periakaruppan by just one vote.
Periakaruppan approached the High Court alleging that election officials mishandled a postal ballot cast in his favour. According to the petition, the ballot was mistakenly sent to another constituency with a similar name and was eventually rejected instead of being redirected for counting.
On Tuesday, the High Court termed the issue an “administrative failure” and restrained Sethupathi from participating in the floor test pending further proceedings.
The court also observed that allowing the MLA to vote while the dispute remained unresolved could potentially affect governance beyond the constituency itself.
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Senior Lawyers Clash Over High Court Order
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Sethupathi, sharply criticised the High Court ruling, calling it “blatantly illegal.” He urged the Supreme Court to intervene immediately given the timing of the floor test, as per a report.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the DMK side, sought time to submit a counter-affidavit. During the hearing, Rohatgi noted that the DMK had already decided to walk out of the Assembly, making Sethupathi’s participation less significant in practical terms.
The matter had first been mentioned before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant on Tuesday, when Singhvi requested urgent listing because of the imminent trust vote. The Chief Justice agreed to list the case for hearing the next day.
