India, Sept. 3 -- The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a writ petition filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin to order counting of voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) slips of the Kolathur assembly constituency, and to consequently declare him the returned candidate after nullifying election of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) MLA VS Babu.

A bench of chief justice SA Dharmadhikari and justice G Arul Murugan said the former Tamil Nadu chief minister's plea was "not maintainable".

A detailed order of the court is awaited.

On Monday, the bench had reserved its orders after hearing the arguments advanced by senior counsel Kapil Sibal for Stalin and senior counsels G Rajagopal and Dama Seshadri Naidu for th...