Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) former Minister K.R. Periakaruppan on Sunday complained before the Madras High Court that the existence of two Legislative Assembly constituencies by the same name ‘Tirupattur’ in Tamil Nadu had led to his defeat in the just concluded 2026 elections by a single vote.
A summer vacation Bench of Justices L. Victoria Gowri and N. Senthilkumar held a special sitting on a holiday to hear an urgent writ petition moved by him to claim that a postal vote cast in his favour in Tirupattur constituency in Sivaganga district was inadvertently sent to the Tirupattur constituency in Tirupattur district.
Senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and N.R. Elango, representing the writ petitioner, brought it to the notice of the court that constituency number 50 bears the name Tirupattur and constituency number 185 also bears the name Tirupattur though the former falls in Tirupattur revenue district and the latter in Sivaganga district.
They said, Mr. Periakaruppan had been contesting from Tirupattur constituency in Sivanganga district from 2006 and won every other election held since then. Only this year, he was declared to have lost the election by a margin of just a single vote to Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate R. Seenivasa Sethupathy.
