The Madras High Court has temporarily barred Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate Seenivasa Sethupathi from participating in the state legislative assembly floor test and confidence motion on May 13.
The court's decision comes after a dispute over a postal ballot from the Tiruppattur assembly constituency, where Sethupathi won the election.
DMK leader KR Periyakaruppan had filed a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) claiming that the election officials wrongly sent a postal ballot to another constituency, causing it to be rejected.
Periyakaruppan lost the election by 83,374 votes, but argued that if the ballot was valid, the election result would have ended in a tie.
The ECI opposed the petition, saying that Periyakaruppan did not produce any evidence to support his claim.
The court, however, found a 'strong prima facie case' for issuing interim directions restraining Sethupathy.
