Chennai, Oct 2:
The Madras High Court on Thursday reserved its orders on a petition seeking to restrain the Election Commission of India (ECI) from conducting by-elections to five vacant Tamil Nadu Assembly seats until the pending election petitions are disposed of.
A First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Muruga reserved the order after a three-day hearing. The court had earlier stayed the conduct of bypolls to Trichy East, Karur, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai and Perundurai.
The ECI told the court that it would not conduct the bypolls until the pending cases were decided. It also submitted that the Perundurai bypoll could be held as the related plea had already been dismissed, and said polls could be conducted before November 24 if there was no further stay.
Meanwhile, bypolls to Madurantakam and Dharapuram, which also fell vacant, have been scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9.
The vacancies arose after the resignation of seven MLAs, six of whom were from the AIADMK and subsequently joined the TVK. The cases before the High Court include challenges to the acceptance of the resignations and election petitions concerning some of the constituencies.