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Nearly a decade after the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, the Madras High Court has declared Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu as the duly elected candidate. It set aside the victory of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader IS Inbadurai from the Radhapuram constituency.
In a judgement delivered on Wednesday, June 3, Justice G Jayachandran held that Appavu had in fact won the election after a recount of votes and directed that he be officially recognised as the MLA from Radhapuram for the 2016-2021 Assembly term. The court also ordered that all monetary benefits due to an MLA for that period be paid to Appavu and directed the Assembly Secretary and state government to amend official records to reflect his name as the elected representative of the constituency.
The dispute dates back to the 2016 Assembly election in Tirunelveli district's Radhapuram constituency, where Inbadurai was originally declared the winner by a narrow margin of 49 votes. Appavu challenged the result before the High Court, alleging irregularities in the counting process, particularly with regard to postal ballots and votes counted during the 19th, 20th and 21st rounds of counting.
Appavu had contended that he was forced out of the counting centre when counting for the later rounds commenced and that hundreds of postal ballots were wrongly rejected. He argued that 403 postal ballots had been invalidated without proper reasons.
In 2019, the High Court ordered a recount of postal ballots as well as votes recorded in 39 electronic voting machines that were counted during the disputed rounds. The recount was conducted on the premises of the Madras High Court. More than 1,500 postal ballots and over 15,700 EVM votes were recounted.
However, the process became entangled in prolonged litigation after Inbadurai challenged the recount order before the High Court and later the Supreme Court. While the Supreme Court allowed the recount to proceed, it restrained authorities from announcing the outcome, leaving the matter unresolved for years.
By the time the case returned for final adjudication, two subsequent Assembly elections, in 2021 and 2026, had already taken place. The court observed that election disputes could not be left unresolved indefinitely and proceeded to examine the recount findings.
According to the recount report, of the disputed postal ballots, Appavu secured 153 valid votes while Inbadurai received only one vote. Forty-four ballots were declared invalid. The revised tally showed that Appavu had won the election by more than 100 votes. While some reports placed the revised margin at 104 votes, the court ultimately declared that Appavu had won by 109 votes after the recount exercise.
Justice Jayachandran noted that the recount report contained a "damning disclosure" and held that the evidence conclusively established Appavu's victory. The judge also upheld the validity of postal ballots attested by middle school headmasters, rejecting Inbadurai's argument that such officers were not authorised to certify postal ballots.
The court observed that although the Supreme Court had stayed the declaration of the recount result, it had not stayed the High Court's earlier finding that middle school headmasters qualified as gazetted officers for the purpose of attesting postal ballots.
Referring to delays in election litigation, Justice Jayachandran pointed to Section 86(7) of the Representation of the People Act, which requires election petitions to be decided within six months. He remarked that prolonged delays in resolving election disputes undermine democratic institutions and the spirit of electoral accountability.
The court, however, clarified that the improper declaration of Inbadurai as the winning candidate was not attributable to any wrongdoing on his part. It said the judgment would not disqualify him from public office. However, he would not be entitled to claim pensionary benefits arising from his status as MLA during the 2016-2021 term.
The judgment also noted that recovering the salary and allowances already paid to Inbadurai would be impractical since he had discharged the functions of an elected representative during that period.
Reacting to the verdict, Appavu said he was pleased that the court had vindicated his claim. Calling it a victory for justice, he said that while the decision had come after a long delay, it had corrected an unconstitutional and unlawful deprivation of an electoral mandate.
Inbadurai, meanwhile, said he would challenge the judgment before the Supreme Court. He maintained that the High Court had not disqualified him and expressed confidence that the verdict would be overturned on appeal. He said he believed he would ultimately succeed in the legal battle.
After the 2016 election, Appavu went on to win the Radhapuram seat in 2021 and later served as Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, while Inbadurai remained active in politics and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the AIADMK in 2025.