One vote, two Tirupattur: DMK flags postal ballot irregularities after High Court order (Image credit: ANI)

New Delhi: The Madras High Court has barred a TVK MLA from voting in the assembly floor test due to possible mix-up of postal votes between Tirupattur in Sivagangai district and Tirupattur district near Vellore, the DMK said on Tuesday.While TVK’s Seenivasa Sethupathi got 83,375 votes, DMK’s KR Periyakruppan got 83,374 votes in the election. Sethupathi was declared elected by a margin of only one vote.“If even one disputed vote is counted in favor of the DMK, the numbers will be tied, leading to a coin toss to decide the election,” DMK spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai told PTI.The court has directed the MLA not to vote until the writ petition reaches a conclusion.The fight between DMK and TVK continued till 1:30 am on the day of counting. Periakaruppan remained in the lead till the 16th round, but Sethupathi took the lead from the 17th round. At the end of EVM counting, he was ahead by 819 votes and secured 83,010 votes against Periyakruppan’s 82,191 votes.With the addition of postal ballots – 1,183 for Periakaruppan and 365 for Sethupathi – the final count was 83,374 for Periakaruppan and 83,375 for Sethupathi.District Election Officer K. Therefore the votes had to be counted through VVPAT.“As per ECI guidelines when the margin is one vote, we had to re-verify 306 rejected postal ballots,” the Collector said. After re-verification, no valid votes were found to change the margin.The Returning Officer decided not to order a recount, providing a written explanation for the decision.