Madras High Court Stays Bypoll Notification for 5 Tamil Nadu Assembly Seats, Including Karur

The Madras High Court on July 10 passed an interim order restraining the Election Commission of India from notifying by-elections to five Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies — Trichy East, Karur, Ambasamudram, Perundurai and Viralimalai — until July 31.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan passed the order while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Tirunelveli-based petitioner K. Venkatachalapathy.

The court held that conducting by-elections before pending election petitions relating to these seats are decided could result in unnecessary public expenditure and risk a constitutional anomaly if two people were declared representatives of the same constituency at different times.

The order came within hours of Chief Minister Vijay, during his Karur visit, urging voters to defeat the DMK in the constituency's upcoming by-election — putting immediate by-poll plans for Karur, along with four other seats vacated after AIADMK MLAs resigned to join TVK, on hold.