Madras High Court reserves judgment on plea to defer bypolls in five Tamil Nadu constituencies

Image used for representation | Photo Credit: B. Jothi Ramalingam

The Madras High Court on Thursday (October 1, 2026) reserved its judgment on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition that seeks to restrain the Election Commission of India (ECI) from notifying byelections in the Tiruchi East, Ambasamudram, Perundurai, Viralimalai, and Karur constituencies until the disposal of election petitions related to those constituencies.

The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan deferred their verdict after senior counsel Dama Sheshadri Naidu, assisted by ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan, said that the role of the Commission in the present case was non-adversarial and that it would act in whichever way the court interprets the law.