The Election Commission of India (EC) has informed the Madras High Court that the legal bar preventing a byelection in the Perundurai Assembly constituency has been lifted following the rejection of an election petition on 8 September 2026. The EC’s written submission, addressed to Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan, explains that the bar ended when the petition was dismissed.
According to the EC, the Perundurai bypoll could be held before 24 November 2026, provided the Supreme Court does not issue a stay. The commission also noted that the conduct of the bypoll is subject to the Chief Justice’s Bench exempting Perundurai from an interim order issued on 10 July 2026, which had prevented the notification of bypolls in five vacant constituencies with pending election petitions.
For the other four constituencies—Tiruchi East, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai and Karur—the EC stated that byelections cannot be notified until the election petitions and accompanying pleas to declare a petitioner or another candidate as returned are decided. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who vacated Tiruchi East and retained Perambur after winning both seats in the general elections, argued that his resignation occurred before the filing of an election petition by DMK candidate S. Inigo Irudayaraj. The EC said the timing of the resignation is immaterial.
The EC also cautioned that whether a petition is filed before or after a resignation could lead to an anomalous situation where a constituency is represented by two individuals if the High Court declares a different candidate as returned after a bypoll. It emphasized that the deferment of bypolls is neither indefinite nor indiscriminate and that the bar ends immediately once the election tribunal disposes of the plea to declare a returned candidate. Under Section 86(7) of the Representation of People Act, 1951, every election petition must be resolved expeditiously, ideally within six months. The commission expressed its recognition of the importance of representation for every constituency and welcomed any direction from the court to expedite the disposal of pending petitions.
