Madras High Court restrains TVK's Tirupattur MLA, who won by 1 vote, from voting in Tamil Nadu legislative assembly

Adding to the dramatic turn of events in Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court on Tuesday restrained TVK MLA R Srinivasa Sethupathi, who won from the Tirupattur assembly constituency by just one vote, from voting, including the confidence motion in the 17th Legislative assembly.

According to latest reports, Srinivasa Sethupathi cannot vote in any no-confidence motion as well.

A vacation bench comprising Justices L Victoria Gowri and N Senthilkumar granted the interim injunction on a petition filed by DMK candidate K R Periyakaruppan, who lost to the TVK MLA in the April 23 polls.

This comes ahead of the floor test of the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on May 13. In his petition, Periyakaruppan, a former minister in the DMK government sought a recount of votes and also sought an interim order to restrain Srinivasa Sethupathi from taking oath as an MLA.

While Srinivasa Sethupathi secured 83,365 votes in the election, Periyakaruppan got 83,364 votes. Srinivasa Sethupathi was declared elected by a margin of just one vote.

The HC bench had earlier held a special sitting on Sunday, a day ahead of the scheduled oath taking of MLAs-elect as legislators in the state Assembly.

With PTI inputs