The CRP petitioner Mrs.Muthu Sumathi contested Madurai Corporation Councillor election for Ward No.26. One Mrs.Chockiyee was declared elected with a difference of 4

The CRP petitioner Mrs.Muthu Sumathi contested Madurai Corporation Councillor election for Ward No.26. One Mrs.Chockiyee was declared elected with a difference of 4 Votes. Immediately the petitioner sought for Re Counting, which was rejected. Thereafter immediately the petitioner filed Election OP No.40 of 2022 before the Election Tribunal, Madurai. Interim petition was filed for a direction to preserve the CCTV footage, Ballot Machines, Counting Slips and all other connected records in the Election Petition. But the tribunal without passing orders only issued notice. Therefore the petitioner filed CRP (PD) (MD) No.575/2022 and CMP(MD) No.2421/2022 before the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court. Today the case was listed before her Lordship Mrs.Justice S.Ananthi. After hearing the arguments of Mr.Niranjan.S.Kumar, Learned Counsel for the Petitioner, passed an order and directed the election tribunal /1st Addl.Dist Judge Madurai to dispose of the main election case within 2 months and also granted a direction to the returning officer/commissioner of Madurai to produce the video-graphed tape, CCTV footage and ballot units and counting slips in the safe custody of the election tribunal.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
AT MADURAI BENCH
(Civil Revisional Jurisdiction)
CRP(PD) (MD)No. of 2022
in
Election O.P No. 40 of 2022
(On the file of the Election Tribunal/1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Madurai)
K.Muthu Sumathi …Petitioner/Petitioner
Vs
1. The Tamilnadu State Election Commission,
Chennai-600 106.
Rep by its Commissioner.
2. The State Election Officer/
The Commissioner of Municipal Administration,
Chennai.
3. The District Collector/District Election Officer,
Madurai.
4. The Returning Officer/Commissioner,
Madurai Corporation.
5. The Assistant Returning Officer/
Assistant Commissioner, Zone-II,
Madurai Corporation.
6. Tmt K.Chokkayee,
W/o Kanthasamy,
Sulthan Nagar Visalam 1st Street,
Pasumpon Street,
Maruthu Pandiyar Nagar,
Narimedu,
Madurai625 002.
7. Tmt.C.Anjugam
W/o S.Sivakumar,
No.2921/3-156,
Kannan Colony,
Sinthamani,
Madurai-625 009.
8. Tmt.S.Amutha,
W/o R.Selvam,
No.52, Vinayagar Street,
Krishnapuram Colony,
Madurai-625 002.
9. Tmt.M.Kalaiyarasi,
W/o M.Manikandan,
11/13, P.T.R Main Road,
Indhira Nagar,
Tallakulam,
Madurai-625 002.
10. Selvi M.Sona
D/o S.Muthuvijayakumar,
A-13, Tamilnadu Housing Board Colony,
Chinna Chokkikulam,
Madurai-625 002.
11. Tmt. R.Petchi,
W/o M.Ravichandran,
Irudhayarajapuram North 1st Street,
Sellur, Madurai-625 002.
12. Tmt.Shahin Fathima,
W/o Mohamed Thariq Syeed,
147, Dhanya House,
Narimedu Main Road,
Madurai-625 002. …Respondents/Respondents
AFFIDAVIT OF Tmt. K.MUTHU SUMATHI
I, K.Muthu Sumathi, wife of A.Kannan, Hindu, aged about 45 years residing at Plot No.33/2A, Devi Ram Illlam, Dr.Radhakrishnan Salai, Chokkanathapuram, Madurai-625 014 do hereby solemnly affirm and sincerely state as follows;
1. I am the Petitioner herein and I have filed an Election Original Petition on the file of the Election Tribunal/1st Additional District and Sessions Court, Madurai, praying to declare the election of the 6th Respondent as Councillor of Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation as null and void and to order for re-counting of votes in the presence of the Hon’ble Election Tribunal and declare me duly elected as Councillor of Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation with all consequential benefits attached with the post and as such I am well acquainted with the facts of the case stated hereunder.
2. I humbly submit that I pray this Hon’ble Court to treat the averments and grounds in the Election Original Petition as part and parcel of this Affidavit.
3. I humbly submit that the 5th Respondent ARO without adhering the rules governing the counting of votes, hurriedly announced that the 6th Respondent won by 4 votes without even giving sufficient opportunity to me to raise my objection and gave away the certificate in a fraction of seconds for some extraneous consideration. The 6th Respondent also have resorted into several corrupt practices of giving cash for votes and has made the principles of democracy ridicule.
4. I humbly submit that the Power of the People is the Tower of Democracy and the administration of local body and local governance is the root of democracy and therefore the Respondents 1 to 5 are duty bound to conduct the election in a transparent manner adducing faith in democracy. Therefore, the ARO ought to have demonstrated that he acted in a fair manner in counting the votes polled in Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation and ought to have provided a reasonable opportunity to me to raise my objection to the counting and to ask for the re-counting of votes. When I and my counting agents were awaiting to receive the winning certificate, the ARO shocked and surprised by giving the winning certificate and made the announcement that the 6th Respondent was elected as a councillor of Ward No.26, within a fraction of seconds leaving a hard time to get response from an ordinary prudent person.
5. I humbly submit that the ARO has not properly counted and announced the votes secured by me and the 6th Respondent and instead the ARO unilaterally announced that the 6th Respondent won by 4 votes without proper accounts and without demonstrating the accounts of votes and the 6th Respondent and her counting agents just left the place of counting as soon as they received the winning certificate without even asking for the proper accounts of votes. The ARO has given a concocted statement of accounts of votes secured by the contesting candidates so as to show that the 6th Respondent has secured 1931 votes and I have secured 1927 votes.
6. I humbly submit that the perusal of the video taken at the counting of votes in Ward No.26 of Madurai Corporation and the CCTV footage fitted in the room and the ballot control units, and the round wise, booth wise counting slips recorded by the counting supervisors have to be kept under safe custody and the same have to be produced before the Hon’ble Election Tribunal and therefore an interim direction to that effect is just and necessary to meet the ends of justice.
7. I humbly submit that now the elected councillors of Madurai Corporation have taken oath as Councillors on 02.03.2022 and the further election of Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of various statutory committees in the Madurai Corporation were held on 04.03.2022. Therefore, I have prayed for an Interim Injunction restraining the 6th Respondent from taking oath as Councillor of Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation and to restrain her from participating in any of the council proceedings till the disposal of the main election petition.
8. I further submit that I am having sufficient documentary and oral evidences to prove my case and is also having an electronic evidence of call recording to substantiate the corrupt practice of giving cash for votes by the 6th Respondent and the illegality committed by the 5th Respondent.
9. I humbly submit that I had complained the Returning Officer/Commissioner, District Election Officer/District Collector and the State Election Commission on the same day of counting i.e., on 22.02.2022 about the manner in which the results of the ward No.26 was announced hurriedly without complying the Rules 2006.
10. I humbly submit that the polling of votes was conducted on 19.02.2022 Saturday from 7 A.M to 6.00 P.M and there are 11 booths starting from 314 to 323 and Booth No.315 was having two booths one for women and another one is for All Voters. I further submit that in Booth No.320 the presiding officer has not given the actual number of votes recorded in Form No.23 and this led to the mal practice of doing favouritism to the 6th Respondent by the 5th Respondent ARO and other officials to declare the 6th Respondent as an elected ward councillor. Therefore, all the relevant records pertaining to the polling conducted in ward No.26 have to be verified with the counterfoils to ascertain the actual votes polled.
11. I humbly submit that on the day of counting of votes on 22.02.2022 which took place at Wakf Board College, K.K.Nagar, Madurai-625 020, the Assistant Returning Officer Mr.M.Amirthalingam and his team of counting supervisors were in a hurried mode and counted the votes speedily in a pre-determined mind and initially it was informed that I was leading and after the second rounds of counting I was informed to have been elected by a margin of 141 + 7 postal votes of totally 148 votes and it was widely telecasted in several digital medias like NEWS 7 and the ARO got the signature from all candidates in some papers in a folded condition without even disclosing the real contents and the facts. Thereafter the Assistant Returning Officer Mr.M.Amirthalingam and his counting team whispered themselves and when I was waiting to receive the winning certificate from the ARO, at that time the ARO suddenly announced that Tmt.K.Chokkayee, the 6th Respondent was elected by a margin of 4 votes and within a fraction of seconds of announcement he handed over the winning certificate to the 6th Respondent who grabbed the same and fled from the counting spot. It is pertinent to note that the ARO has not properly informed the total votes secured by me and the 6th Respondent and has not given sufficient opportunity to me to raise my objection and acted swiftly for some extraneous consideration and expelled me and my team of counting agents from the counting spot by using police force citing the Corona Virus protocols. The videography recorded by the Officials and the CCTV footage of the counting room will substantiate my contentions. The Assistant Returning Officer, Mr.M.Amirthalingam acted in a prejudiced manner without adhering the mandates of the Rules contemplated in the Tamil Nadu Town Panchayats, Third Grade Municipalities, Municipalities And Corporations (Elections) Rules, 2006.
12. I humbly submit that I filed the Election Original Petition before the Hon’ble Principal District Judge, Madurai on 28.02.2022 and the same was made over to the learned 1st Additional District Judge, Madurai and the same was taken up for hearing on 03.03.2022. My counsels insisted for the interim direction to keep the ballot units and video coverage and CCTV footage and to produce the same before the court by citing the difficulty that unless an order of the court, the datas will be deleted or modified. The learned judge heard at length and the orders in IAs were reserved. But I was shocked to see the orders in Ecourts wherein notice alone was ordered.
13. I humbly submit that the Hon’ble First Bench of this Hon’ble Court while dealing with a writ petition in W.P(MD)No.3794/2022 filed by one R.Tamilselvi pertaining to the election conducted in T.Kallupatti Town Panchayath in which the Assistant Returning Officer who initially announced the winning of the Petitioner therein suddenly changed the result and announced a candidate belonged to another party. When the videographs were produced before the Hon’ble First Bench, the illegality committed by the ARO came into lime light. The same modus operandi has been adopted by the 5th Respondent herein in announcing the 6th Respondent’s election.
14. I humbly submit that I am legally advised to state that the Hon’ble Apex Court by a Bench comprising of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M.M.Sundresh has held that no point in admitting a petition but making it infructuous by refusing interim relief. Civil Appeal No.1493/2022 “Samruddhi Sambhaji Padwal & Anr Vs The State of Maharashtra & Ors” dated 18.02.2022. In my case also there is no point in ordering notice without preserving the entire datas pertaining to the election conducted in ward No.26 of Madurai Corporation. Unless the video, CCTV Footage and ballot units and other relevant documents are produced and preserved, I may not have any case in the Election Original Petition.
15. I humbly submit that therefore unless a direction is issued by the Hon’ble Election Tribunal to keep the ballot units, counting slips noted by the counting supervisors deployed by the Returning Officers and other relevant documents used in the election of Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation is ordered to be preserved, the same may be deleted or destroyed and it will prejudice my case. Therefore, an interim direction to that effect is just and necessary. The balance of convenience is in my favour. Unless the interim applications filed along with this Civil Revision Petition is considered I will be put into much hardship and irreparable loss and will result in miscarriage of justice and on the other hand the respondents may not have any valid objections.
Therefore, it is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass an order of INTERIM DIRECTION directing the Respondents 1 to 5 to produce the videographs taken at the counting of votes in Ward No.26 of Madurai Corporation and the CCTV footage fitted in the room and the ballot control units, and the round wise, booth wise counting slips recorded by the counting supervisors pertaining to the election in Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation before the Hon’ble Election Tribunal/1st Additional District and Sessions Court, Madurai and direct the Hon’ble Election Tribunal to keep under safe custody of the Court pending disposal of the main election petition and thus render justice.
Solemnly affirm and Before me
Signed this at Madurai
On this 11th Day of
March 2022.
Advocate, Madurai

DISTRICT: MADURAI
HIGH COURT: MADRAS
BENCH : MADURAI

CRP(PD)(MD) No. of 2022
In
EL.O.P No.40/2022
(On the file of the Election Tribunal
/1st Additional District
and Sessions Judge, Madurai)

AFFIDAVIT OF
K.MUTHU SUMATHI

M/s NIRANJAN S.KUMAR
(Ms: 2931/2008)
M.SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN
(Ms:7293/2021)
M.SRIMATHI(Ms:5868/2021)
Cell: 82486 64732
Email: raghavann3157@gamil.com

MEMORANDUM OF CIVIL MISCELLANEOUS PETITION
(Under Section 151 of Civil Procedure Code)
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
AT MADURAI BENCH
(Civil Revisional Jurisdiction)
C.M.P(MD) No. of 2022
in
CRP(PD) (MD)No. of 2022
in
Election O.P No. 40 of 2022
(On the file of the Election Tribunal/1st Additional District and Sessions Judge, Madurai)
K.Muthu Sumathi …Petitioner/Petitioner/Petitioner
Vs
1. The Tamilnadu State Election Commission,
Chennai-600 106.
Rep by its Commissioner.
2. The State Election Officer/
The Commissioner of Municipal Administration,
Chennai.
3. The District Collector/District Election Officer,
Madurai.
4. The Returning Officer/Commissioner,
Madurai Corporation.
5. The Assistant Returning Officer/
Assistant Commissioner, Zone-II,
Madurai Corporation.
6. Tmt K.Chokkayee,
W/o Kanthasamy,
Sulthan Nagar Visalam 1st Street,
Pasumpon Street,
Maruthu Pandiyar Nagar,
Narimedu,
Madurai625 002.
7. Tmt.C.Anjugam
W/o S.Sivakumar,
No.2921/3-156,
Kannan Colony,
Sinthamani,
Madurai-625 009.
8. Tmt.S.Amutha,
W/o R.Selvam,
No.52, Vinayagar Street,
Krishnapuram Colony,
Madurai-625 002.
9. Tmt.M.Kalaiyarasi,
W/o M.Manikandan,
11/13, P.T.R Main Road,
Indhira Nagar,
Tallakulam,
Madurai-625 002.
10. Selvi M.Sona
D/o S.Muthuvijayakumar,
A-13, Tamilnadu Housing Board Colony,
Chinna Chokkikulam,
Madurai-625 002.
11. Tmt. R.Petchi,
W/o M.Ravichandran,
Irudhayarajapuram North 1st Street,
Sellur, Madurai-625 002.
12. Tmt.Shahin Fathima,
W/o Mohamed Thariq Syeed,
147, Dhanya House,
Narimedu Main Road,
Madurai-625 002. …Respondents/Respondents/Respondents
DIRECTION PETITION
For the reasons stated in the accompanying Affidavit it is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to pass an order of INTERIM DIRECTION directing the Respondents 1 to 5 to produce the videographs taken at the counting of votes in Ward No.26 of Madurai Corporation and the CCTV footage fitted in the room and the ballot control units, and the round wise, booth wise counting slips recorded by the counting supervisors pertaining to the election in Ward No.26, Madurai Corporation before the Hon’ble Election Tribunal/1st Additional District and Sessions Court, Madurai and direct the Hon’ble Election Tribunal to keep under safe custody of the Court pending disposal of the main election petition and thus render justice.
Dated at Madurai on this 11th Day of March 2022.

Counsel for Petitioner

DISTRICT: MADURAI
HIGH COURT: MADRAS
BENCH : MADURAI
C.M.P(MD)No. of 2022
in
CRP(PD)(MD) No. of 2022
In
EL.O.P No.40/2022
(On the file of the Election Tribunal
/1st Additional District
and Sessions Judge, Madurai)

DIRECTION PETITION

M/s NIRANJAN S.KUMAR
(Ms: 2931/2008)
M.SRINIVASA RAGHAVAN
(Ms:7293/2021)
M.SRIMATHI(Ms:5868/2021)
Cell: 82486 64732
Email: raghavann3157@gamil.com