Plea in Madras High Court Seeks to Halt Madurantakam and Dharapuram Bypolls

A public interest litigation petition has been moved in the Madras High Court seeking to restrain the Election Commission of India from holding byelections in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu until a related case is disposed of.

The petition, filed by Chennai-based advocate K. Suthan, primarily seeks to curb the practice of MLAs resigning their seats only to seek re-election from the same constituencies after joining another political party. The matter is expected to come up before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan next week.

The litigant has asked the court to direct the poll panel to frame stringent rules so that public money is not wasted by legislators who step down and re-contest in order to escape proceedings under the anti-defection law. Among the measures sought are an "election expenditure security deposit" to recover the cost of bypolls from resigned legislators who seek re-election, and a statutory disqualification or cooling-off period barring such MLAs from immediately re-contesting.

In his affidavit, the petitioner submitted that a legislator who voluntarily resigns shortly after an election for personal or political reasons, without any legally recognised compelling circumstance, should face a statutory restriction on contesting elections to Parliament or any State Legislative Assembly for five years from the date the resignation is accepted.

The affidavit contended that the electorate's mandate cannot be treated as a personal political asset that can be abandoned immediately after an election, without regard to the consequences for voters and the public exchequer. It noted that there is presently no adequate statutory mechanism linking a voluntary premature resignation to the additional public expenditure caused by the resulting vacancy.

The petition points to six individuals — C. Vijayabaskar (Viralimalai), M.R. Vijayabhaskar (Karur), Esakki Subaya (Ambasamudram), P. Sathyabama (Dharapuram), K. Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam) and S. Jayakumar (Perundurai) — who won this year's Assembly elections as AIADMK candidates but later resigned their MLA posts before joining the ruling TVK.

According to the affidavit, the Election Commission decided against conducting bypolls in four of those six constituencies because election petitions are pending there, but notified bypolls for the remaining two — Madurantakam and Dharapuram. Since Ms. Kumaravel and Ms. Sathyabama have been announced as TVK candidates for these seats, the petitioner has urged the court to stay the two bypolls.