Madras High Court declares M Appavu Winner of 2016 Radhapuram election after nearly 10 years
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Nearly a decade after the 2016 Tamil Nadu Assembly election, the Madras High Court has declared DMK leader M. Appavu as the rightful winner of the Radhapuram constituency, overturning the result that had originally declared AIADMK candidate I.S. Inbadurai elected by a margin of 49 votes.
Allowing Appavu's election petition, Justice G. Jayachandran held that a recount of postal ballots showed Appavu had in fact won the election by 103 votes.
The dispute centred on 203 postal ballots that were rejected during the original counting process. Appavu argued that valid votes cast in his favour had been wrongly discarded. The respondent maintained that the ballots were invalid because they had been attested by middle school headmasters rather than gazetted officers.
In 2019, the High Court ordered a recount of postal and EVM votes. Although the recount was conducted, the Supreme Court stayed the declaration of the results after a challenge to the recount process. The matter remained pending for nearly six years before being disposed of in May 2026 after the Assembly term had already ended.
The High Court criticised the prolonged delay in resolving the election dispute, saying such delays undermine democracy and the spirit of adult franchise. The court described the case as a "grave mockery of justice" and said voters of the constituency had been represented by a person who was not duly elected.
Referring to the recount records, the court found that Appavu secured 153 valid postal votes, while Inbadurai received only one. After adding those votes to the final tally, Appavu emerged as the winner.
The court directed the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Secretariat to replace Inbadurai's name with Appavu's in official records. While Inbadurai was not disqualified, the court ruled that he would not be entitled to MLA pension benefits for the 2016-2021 term.