Madras HC refuses stay on bypolls to 2 TN seats
The Madras High Court on Wednesday declined to stay the bypoll to Maduranthakam (SC) and Dharapuram (SC) Assembly constituencies that are scheduled for October 6.
A division bench comprising Justices S M Subramaniam and Krishnanaswamy Govindarajan orally declined to stay the election while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by advocate K Suthan.
After Advocate General Vijay Narayan pointed out that similar connected matters were heard by the First Bench headed by Chief Justice S A Dharmadhikari and that orders were reserved, the court directed the Registry to post this PIL also before the First Bench on September 18.
The bypolls were necessitated following the resignation of then AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham Kumaravel and P Satyabama from Maduranthakam and Dharapuram, respectively, before joining the ruling TVK. (PTI)
Party founder and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay has renominated them from the same seats.
In his petition, Suthan sought a direction to the Election Commission of India and the State Chief Electoral Officer from accepting the nomination papers of Sathyabama and Kumaravel.
Further, he wanted a direction to the EC to mandate, as a pre-condition for filing nomination papers, the deposit of an “Election Expenditure Security” as fixed by it for each of the respective constituency by the resigned AIADMK members–S Jayakumar (Perunthurai), Maragatham Kumaravel, Sathyabama, Dr Esakki Subbaya (Ambasamudram), C Vijaya Bhaskar (Viralimalai) and M R Vijayabhaskar (Karur), should they seek to contest the ensuing bye-elections for the said constituencies. He also sought a direction to the EC to place before this court a detailed report on the estimated expenditure to be incurred for conducting the elections in the constituencies of Tiruchirappalli East (one of the two seats represented by Vijay and since vacated by him), Karur, Viralimalai, Perundurai, Ambasamudram, Maduranthakam and Dharapuram which have been necessitated by the resignations of the respective MLAs, pending disposal of this petition.
He also sought a direction to the ECI to examine and initiate necessary legislative and/or regulatory measures to create a mechanism for ensuring financial accountability of elected representatives who voluntarily and prematurely resign from their seats without legally recognized compelling circumstances, including by considering the introduction of an “Election Expenditure Security” to recover the cost of the resultant bypolls.
He also wanted the EC to examine and initiate necessary legislative and/or regulatory measures to introduce a statutory disqualification or a reasonable cooling-off period to prevent elected representatives who voluntarily and prematurely resign from contesting subsequent elections for a prescribed period.
