The Election Commission has told the Madras High Court that there is no ban on holding a by-election in Perundurai

The Perundurai poll could be conducted before November 24, 2026, if the Supreme Court does not allow any stay, says EC.

The legal hurdle for holding a by-election in the Perundurai Assembly constituency has ended due to the dismissal of an election petition related to the constituency on 8 September 2026 by the Election Commission of India (EC) in the Madras High Court.

In its written submissions filed in response to a PIL hearing before Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, the EC said the Perundurai survey could be conducted before November 24, 2026, unless the Supreme Court granted any stay.

The EC said the conduct of the poll would also be subject to the Chief Justice’s bench exempting Perundurai from the interim order passed on July 10, 2026, which had restrained the commission from announcing recalled elections to five vacant constituencies where election petitions were pending in the High Court.

As for the other four constituencies – Tiruchi East, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai and Karur – the EC said that the by-elections cannot be notified to them until the election petitions filed along with the request to declare either these petitioners or other candidates as returned candidates are decided.

Although Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who vacated Tiruchi East and retained Perambur after winning from both the seats in the general elections, claimed to have resigned even before DMK candidate S. Inigo Irudayaraj’s election petition was filed, the EC said the timing of the resignation was irrelevant.

The Commission said that it would not matter whether the election petition was filed either before or after the resignation because either way the constituency could end up facing the anomalous situation of being represented by two individuals if someone else was declared a returned candidate by the Election Tribunal (High Court) after the election was conducted.

Claiming that the postponement of the election was “neither indefinite nor indiscriminate”, the EC said the stay would end immediately after the Election Tribunal disposes of the plea filed along with the election petition to declare either the petitioner or some other candidate as a returned candidate.

“This has already happened for the Perundurai constituency,” the Commission said, stressing that Section 86(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 requires that every election petition be disposed of as expeditiously as possible with an aim to conclude the process within six months.

“The Commission is fully aware of the importance of representation of each constituency… The Commission would welcome any direction this court deems appropriate for the expeditious disposal of pending election petitions,” the EC’s written submissions read.

Published – 29 Sep 2026 20:56 IST