Madras High Court dismisses challenge to DMK MLA’s Thirumayam victory

The Madras High Court has rejected an election petition challenging the victory of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MLA S. Regupathy in the Thirumayam constituency. Justice G.K.

Ilanthiraiyan allowed an application by Regupathy to dismiss the petition at the threshold. The MLA, a former Minister in the DMK Cabinet, had won the election by 1,492 votes over Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam candidate C. Chinthamani.

Chinthamani alleged that votes from 18 polling booths had not been counted properly and that the Returning Officer had wrongly refused her request for a recount. The court found that neither she nor her counting agent had objected during the individual counting rounds, and that the request was made only after the winning margin became known. The judge held that a recount could not be ordered routinely.

He said an election petitioner had to provide compelling evidence to support such a request and concluded that the Returning Officer had correctly rejected the representation. The petition also alleged that Regupathy had declared 26 pending criminal cases in his 2021 election affidavit but had declared none in his 2026 affidavit. On this issue, Justice Ilanthiraiyan said the relevant Form 26 required candidates to disclose pending criminal cases, not cases that had been closed or disposed of.

The judge therefore held that Regupathy had correctly stated that no criminal cases were pending against him when he filed his nomination. He also said the petition did not explain how the alleged issues had materially affected the election result. Citing repeated Supreme Court and High Court rulings, he said a legislator should not be subjected to trial on the basis of allegations that were vague and unsubstantiated.