Madras High Court refuses to dismiss election petition challenging Udhayanidhi’s victory from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni

LoP Udhayanidhi Stalin. File | Photo credit: PTI

The Madras High Court on Friday (November 13, 2026) refused to dismiss an election petition filed by P Milany of Theni district challenging the victory of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Udhayanidhi Stalin from the Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni Assembly constituency in the 2026 general elections.

Dismissing the two petitions filed by the LoP, Justice G. Arul Murugan urged the court to dismiss the election petition and strike out the substantive pleas raised by the election petitioner. The judge decided to proceed with the trial and ordered the applicant to file his response by December 11, 2026.

He disagreed with Mr. Udhayanidhi that while counting the limitation period of 45 days for filing an election petition, the date of declaration of election result should also be taken into account and therefore this election petition should be rejected as it was filed on the 46th day.

The judge said that a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court in Tarun Prasad Chatterjee versus Dinanath Sharma (2000) had categorically held that Section 9 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 would also apply to election petitions and therefore the date of declaration of result must be excluded while calculating the limitation period.

Although Mr. Udhayanidhi’s counsel relied on the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in Youaraj Rai v. Chander Bahadur Karki (2006), Justice Murugan said that such reliance was “misplaced” as the applicability of Section 9 of the General Clauses Act was not a question to be decided in the case.

The judge further noted that the other reasons raised by the election petitioner were disputed issues that could not be decided without evidence, and therefore the LOP did not file a claim either to strike out the claims or to reject the election petition at the threshold.

The appellant was declared elected when he got 62,992 votes against his nearest rival candidate D. Selvam of TVK who got 55,852 votes. However, the election petition was filed by another candidate, Mr. Milany, who also ran from the constituency as an independent and received 30 votes.

The election petitioner challenged Mr. Udhayanidhi’s victory on grounds such as alleged suppression of his assets in the election affidavit, wrong acceptance of his nomination form due to certain irregularities in the certificate issued by the notary and so on.

Although the LoP rejected all the allegations leveled against it by the election petitioner, the judge said that the truth of the allegations could only be ascertained after a full-fledged trial. The judge said the pleas in the election petition could not be termed “redundant, scandalous, frivolous or vexatious” to be struck out.

Published – 13 Nov 2026 12:30 PM IST