Chennai, Aug 24: The Election Commission has informed the Madras High Court that it has no plans to announce by-elections in five Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies until the pending election petitions concerning the seats are disposed of.
The constituencies are Tiruchirappalli East, Karur, Viralimalai, Perundurai and Ambasamudram.
Chief Minister Vijay, who contested from two constituencies in the recently concluded Assembly elections, resigned from the Tiruchirappalli East seat. Similarly, Karur MLA M.R. Vijayabaskar, Viralimalai MLA C. Vijayabaskar, Perundurai MLA Jayakumar and Ambasamudram MLA Isakki Subbaya resigned from their respective constituencies.
A public interest litigation was filed by Venkatajalapathi of Palayamkottai in Tirunelveli district, seeking a direction to prevent the Election Commission from announcing by-elections in the five constituencies while election petitions challenging the victories of the respective MLAs remain pending.
The High Court had earlier stayed the announcement of by-elections in the five constituencies and directed the Election Commission, the Centre, the Assembly Secretary, Chief Minister Vijay and the concerned former MLAs to file their responses within three weeks.
Former Karur MLA M.R. Vijayabaskar and former Viralimalai MLA C. Vijayabaskar subsequently filed petitions seeking vacation of the stay.
The matter came up for hearing again before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan on Monday. The Election Commission filed its counter-affidavit, stating that, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions, it does not propose to announce by-elections in the five constituencies until the election cases are concluded.
The Vijay camp opposed the Election Commission’s stand, contending that its response was incorrect.
The Tamil Nadu government, meanwhile, urged the court to expedite the hearing, pointing out that the five constituencies currently do not have elected representatives.
The Bench directed Inigo Irudayaraj, the DMK candidate from Tiruchirappalli East, and others to file their responses and adjourned the matter to September 8.
The court also extended its interim order restraining the announcement of by-elections in the five constituencies until then.