The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday (August 24) informed the Madras High Court that it was not intending to conduct bye-elections to five constituencies in Tamil Nadu - including the seat vacated by Chief Minister Joseph Vijay- till the election petitions concerning the constituencies were decided by the courts.

The submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan. The bench has extended its interim order restraining the ECI from conducting a bye-election in the five constituencies till September 8, 2026. The bench has decided to take up the plea for final hearing on that date and has asked the parties to complete pleadings by then.

It may be noted that on July 10, the bench had passed the interim order restraining the ECI from conducting bye-elections in the Trichy (East), Perundurai, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai & Karur assembly constituencies till July 31st. This interim order was extended in the previous hearing till August 24. The matter was thus posted on Monday for extension of the interim orders, and the court has again extended the interim order today.

The plea was filed by Venkatachalapathy, seeking to declare that the vacancies did not constitute “clear vacancies” or available vacancies for the purpose of holding bye-elections under Section 151-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The petitioner had argued that though vacancies arose following the resignation of some of the MLAs, election petitions challenging their victory were pending in the High Court, in which relief was also sought to declare another candidate as the returned candidate.

The petitioner argued that if the bye-elections are conducted and ultimately the petitioners succeed in their election petitions by proving corrupt practices, it would lead to an impossible situation where there would be two candidates representing the same constituency simultaneously, one via the General Election and another via the bye-election.

Agreeing with the petitioner, the court had observed that premature holding of bye-elections would affect the state exchequer and affect the democratic process. The court had thus ordered an interim stay.

Today, the ECI has filed its counter in the case. The ECI submitted that though it is bound to call upon the constituency to elect a person to fill up the vacancy as per Section 150 of the Representation of People Act, as per the decision of the Supreme Court in D.Sanjeevayya vs. The Election Tribunal, Andhra Pradesh & Ors, the ECI was not bound to hold the bye-election forthwith when an Election Petition relating to the constituency was pending.

The ECI submitted that Section 151A of the RP Act prescribes a mandatory period of 6 months for conducting bye-elections once a vacancy arises. However, this provision could not be interpreted to render Section 84 ineffective and both the provisions should be read harmoniously.

The ECI submitted that when an Election Petition under Section 84 of the RP Act is pending, the concerned constituency is not available for a bye-election on the occurrence of a casual vacancy.

It is thus submitted that considering the pendency of Election Petitions in the above 5 constituencies, the ECI is not proposing to conduct bye-elections in the 5 constituencies.

Case Title: Venkatachalapathy v Election Commission of India

Case No: WP No 27064 of 2026