The Madras High Court, on Wednesday (June 3, 2026), allowed an election petition filed by former Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 2016 and set aside the election of his rival candidate I.S. Inbadurai of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) from Radhapuram Assembly constituency in Tirunelveli district that year.

Justice G. Jayachandran declared the election of Mr. Inbadurai by a slender margin of 49 votes as null and void and ordered that Mr. Appavu must be declared to have won the polls by a margin of 109 votes. The orders were passed after recounting the votes. The judge directed the Assembly Secretary to substitute the name of Mr. Appavu as the MLA of the constituency between 2016 and 2021.

In 2019, the judge had ordered recounting of the votes polled through postal ballot as well as through 39 electronic voting machines (EVMs) taken up for counting during the 19^th, 20^th and 21^st rounds on May 19, 2016. The order was passed after finding the Returning Officer to have made a false assertion in his testimony on oath with respect to the counting process.

Thereafter, the recounting process began. A total of 1,508 postal votes and over 15,700 votes polled in the 39 EVMs were counted in the Madras High Court premises. However, the result of the recounting was not declared due to an interim stay order passed by the Supreme Court following an appeal preferred by Mr. Inbadurai. After the disposal of the appeal, the High Court proceeded with the hearing of the election petition and allowed it.