Chennai: Madras high court on Tuesday dismissed an election petition challenging the victory of Congress MLA Tharahai Cuthbert from the Colachel assembly constituency in Kanyakumari district.Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the order while rejecting the plea moved by S M Anthony Muthu, who contested the election from the constituency on behalf of CPI(ML). Cuthbert won the election by a margin of 62,210 votes.Challenging Cuthbert’s election, the petitioner alleged irregularities during the counting of votes and sought a direction to count the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips from eight polling stations in the constituency.Cuthbert opposed the petition and submitted that the petitioner could not seek recounting of VVPAT slips without making an application within seven days. She further contended that the election petition had been filed merely on assumptions and lacked sufficient grounds to challenge the election result.
