Chennai, May 2 (IANS): The DMK, which seems set to come to power in Tamil Nadu, on Sunday requested the Election Commission to replace the Returning Officer of the Viralimalai Assembly constituency for malpractice and count the votes as per law.

In its complaint, the DMK said around 4,000 votes polled in favour of the party candidate Palaniappan were counted in favour of AIADMK candidate and Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar, who was shown to be leading with about 3,000 votes.

"If this malpractice is allowed, it would affect the exact result, which is apparently showing the victory of our DMK candidate," DMK's Organisation Secretary and Rajya Sabha member R.S.Bharathi said.

Bharathi also said there were discrepancies found in the numbers of Control Units on Table No 6 in Round No 1, and Table Nos 4, 5 and 14 in Round No 2, while counting the votes polled in the Viralimalai constituency.

"Hence, we request a stop in the counting," Bharathi said.

The Returning Officer agreed to defer the counting of those Control Units, until the other rounds are completed, Bharathi said.