Stalin asks Madras High Court to open all 286 Kolathur VVPATs after two of fourteen checked machines, he says, stopped.

M.K. Stalin on Tuesday, 25 August 2026, moved the Madras High Court challenging the election of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam candidate V.S. Babu from Kolathur. He sought 100 per cent Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail counting and verification of all 286 electronic voting machine sets, plus voiding of the result and a declaration that he is elected. Those are prayers. The petition had not yet been heard. A filing is not a recount order, and it is not a changed result.

The plea says he sought checking of 14 electronic voting machines on 7 May 2026, that verification occurred on 29 July 2026, and that two machines stopped functioning during the checks. Fourteen is the selected set on the plea. Two is the alleged failure count. Two hundred eighty-six is the full-set prayer. The District Election Officer declared the verification successful. Those two writings sit together. This desk will not merge a petitioner’s two-machine-stoppage allegation with an officer’s successful-verification declaration into one invented finding. Claims remain allegations until the High Court hears them.

The Election Commission of India is a name on this file. Chennai holds the High Court. Kolathur is the constituency. Form B and any poll date for any other election are not notified on this cutting. A challenge to a declared result is a court process. It is not a fresh poll notification.

This desk will not invent a margin, a booth-wise table, a serial number for the two machines, or a Tuesday oral order the petition has not had. One hundred per cent Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail counting is the relief asked. It is not a Commission protocol already ordered on this page.

A defeated candidate’s writ can ask the court to count every paper slip. Asking is not obtaining. Two of 14 machines, on the plea, stopped during verification. The District Election Officer’s success declaration is the official line on the same check. Both stay on the page. This desk will not pick a winner between them before the High Court sits.

Until the Madras High Court sits on the petition, the public ledger is a Tuesday challenge by M.K. Stalin to V.S. Babu’s Kolathur election, a prayer for verification of all 286 electronic voting machine sets and full Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail counting, a prayer to void the result and declare Stalin elected, a plea narrative of a 7 May request, a 29 July verification of 14 machines, two machines alleged to have stopped, a District Election Officer declaration that verification succeeded, and a petition not yet heard. The two-machine story remains allegation. The officer’s success line remains the officer’s line. No court has rewritten Kolathur.