The Madras High Court has refused to stay the October 6 bypolls in Tamil Nadu’s Maduranthagam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies, while orally observing that the Election Commission of India should frame guidelines to prevent what it described as a “mockery of democracy”.
A division bench of Justice S.M. Subramaniam and Krishnaswamy Govindarajan heard a public interest litigation filed by advocate K. Suthan seeking to stop the bypolls. The court did not grant an interim stay and directed the registry to place the petition, along with connected matters, before the First Bench on September 18.
The connected petitions concern the validity of the resignations accepted by Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar. The matter is being heard by the First Bench comprising Chief Justice S.A. Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan. The case was placed before that bench after Advocate General Vijay Narayan informed the court that similar matters were already pending there.
Narayan argued that the law as it stands does not prevent legislators who have resigned from contesting the resulting bypolls. On that basis, he submitted that the petitioner’s request to halt the elections could not be accepted.
The petition challenges the circumstances in which six AIADMK MLAs in Tamil Nadu allegedly resigned after the Assembly elections and joined the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam. Two of them, Maragatham Kumaravel and P. Sathyabama, were named as TVK candidates for the Maduranthagam and Dharapuram constituencies. The Election Commission has already notified the bypolls for the two seats.
The petitioner’s counsel, R. Singaravelan, referred to a similar episode in 2009, when MDMK MLA Cumbum N. Ramakrishnan and AIADMK MLA Anitha R. Radhakrishnan resigned and joined the DMK before by-elections were held in their constituencies.
Singaravelan argued that leaving such resignations unregulated could encourage legislators to give up their seats and contest again on the ticket of another party. He said mass resignations could impose a substantial burden on the public exchequer because the Election Commission would have to conduct repeated bypolls. He also argued that such elections could disregard or insult the choice voters had made in the original election.
The court orally observed that Parliament and the Election Commission should examine the circumstances raised by the petition. The immediate legal challenge, however, will continue before the First Bench, with the Maduranthagam and Dharapuram bypolls remaining scheduled for October 6 unless a subsequent court or election authority order changes the timetable.
