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The Madras High Court is set to pronounce orders on Thursday on a petition filed by DMK president and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin challenging the election victory of TVK candidate VS Babu from the Kolathur Assembly constituency.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan is expected to pronounce the order at 10.30 am. Stalin has sought 100 per cent counting of VVPAT slips in the constituency and a declaration that he be elected after setting aside Babu's victory. In his petition, Stalin alleged irregularities in the voting process, claiming that verification of 14 EVMs and VVPAT machines revealed discrepancies. He has sought re-verification of all voting machines used in the constituency. Last month, Stalin filed an election petition in the Madras High Court challenging Babu's election victory, citing alleged malfunctions in EVMs and irregularities involving VVPAT machines. The petition also seeks a recount of votes and a declaration that Babu's election be declared void and Stalin be declared the winner. Stalin lost his stronghold of Kolathur to VS Babu of the newly formed Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in the 2026 state assembly elections. In a closely watched contest, Babu secured victory by a margin of 8,795 votes. Stalin was a three-time MLA from Kolathur, but could not manage to secure the seat for the fourth consecutive time. But despite the setback, he thanked voters, noting that the DMK alliance secured over 1.54 crore votes, with a narrow 3.52 per cent difference from the winning party. Following the results, VS Babu attributed the victory to party chief Vijay and a local connection. Touching upon the anti-incumbency factor, VS Babu said that his win came against the backdrop of people's desire for change in Tamil Nadu. (ANI)
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