In a significant ruling delivered nearly ten years after the disputed election, the Madras High Court has declared former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu as the duly elected MLA from the Radhapuram Assembly constituency for the 2016-2021 term. The court also declared the election of I.S. Inbadurai void, concluding that hundreds of postal ballots had been improperly rejected during counting.
Justice G. Jayachandran passed the order on June 3, 2026, while allowing Election Petition No. 2 of 2016.
Background of the Case
The dispute arose from the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly election in Radhapuram constituency, where Inbadurai was declared elected by a margin of just 49 votes over Appavu. Challenging the result, Appavu approached the High Court alleging that valid votes cast in his favour had been wrongly rejected and that the counting process suffered from serious irregularities.
A major controversy centered on 203 postal ballots that were rejected because their declarations had been attested by Middle School Headmasters. Election officials treated those attestations as invalid on the ground that the Headmasters were not Gazetted Officers.
During the proceedings, the High Court ordered a recount of the disputed postal ballots and certain rounds of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting. The recount exercise was conducted under the supervision of court officials in October 2019.
The matter subsequently reached the Supreme Court, which permitted the counting process to continue but directed that the results should not be declared pending further proceedings.
Referring to the recount report, Justice Jayachandran noted that out of the 203 postal ballots earlier rejected, 153 valid votes were found to have been cast in favour of Appavu, while only one vote was found in favour of Inbadurai. Forty-four ballots remained invalid.
The court observed that the recount conclusively showed that Appavu had actually secured victory by a margin of 103 votes.
Addressing the central legal issue, the court reiterated its earlier finding that Middle School Headmasters qualified as Gazetted Officers for the purpose of attesting postal ballot declarations.
The judgment stated,
“The rejection of 203 votes for the reason that the declarations are attested by Middle School Headmaster is not in consonance to the Conduct of Election Rules.”
The court also expressed concern over the prolonged litigation, observing that election disputes are required under law to be decided expeditiously and ideally within six months.
The Supreme Court eventually disposed of the appeal in May 2026 without deciding the legal question regarding the status of Headmasters as Gazetted Officers. The apex court noted that the term of office connected to the 2016 election had already expired and left the issue open for consideration in a future case. It also permitted the High Court to pass appropriate consequential orders.
Allowing the election petition, the Madras High Court declared the election of I.S. Inbadurai from the Radhapuram Assembly constituency in the 2016 election as void. The court further declared M. Appavu as the duly elected Member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for the constituency for the 2016-2021 term.
The court directed the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Secretariat to substitute Appavu’s name in the official records as the representative of the constituency for that period. It also held that Inbadurai would not face any disqualification because the incorrect declaration was not attributable to his conduct, though he would not be entitled to claim pensionary benefits arising from the MLA position for that term.
Case Detials:
Case Title: M. Appavu v. I.S. Inbadurai & Others
Case Number: Election Petition No. 2 of 2016
Judge: Justice G. Jayachandran
Decision Date: June 3, 2026
