The Madras High Court Wednesday refused to entertain a petition seeking recounting of votes if they do not tally with VVPAT slips and pulled up the petitioner for moving the plea at the eleventh hour.
A vacation bench comprising Justice RMT Teekaa Raaman and Justice P D Audikesavalu asked why the petitioner did not move the court immediately after the Lok Sabha elections were over.
Noting that the petitioner, Lakshmi Krupa, has approached the court last minute, the bench refused to hear it.
The votes polled in the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections are set to be counted Thursday.
Earlier, advocate Swaroop, appearing for Krupa, cited the Election Commission's announcement based on the Supreme Court order.
He said random matching of the VVPATs (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) would be done in five booths in every assembly segment. However, there were many discrepancies and no provisions were available under the statute to match VVPATs with the EVMs, he contended.
He sought a direction to the EC for recounting in the constituency if there was a mismatch.