Madras High Court Extends Stay on Five Assembly Bypolls Until September 8

The Madras High Court has extended its interim stay on notifying bypolls in five Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies until September 8, following submissions by the Election Commission of India (ECI) that it will not schedule elections while election petitions challenging the seats remain pending.

The five constituencies covered by the stay order are Trichy East, Viralimalai, Perundurai, Ambasamudram, and Karur. The interim stay remains in effect as legal challenges concerning the election results in these segments continue before the court.

Among the five seats, Trichy East was vacated by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay. In the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, Vijay contested and won from two constituencies, Perambur and Trichy East. He chose to retain the Perambur seat and subsequently vacated Trichy East.

During the proceedings, the ECI informed the court that it had no plans to notify the bypolls until the pending election petitions were fully resolved. Counsel representing the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government opposed this position, requesting an early hearing of the matter and urging the court to vacate the interim stay.

The High Court declined the plea to lift the stay and ordered the extension of the interim order until September 8.

The ruling comes amid a series of legal challenges arising from the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. DMK president and former Chief Minister MK Stalin also recently filed an election petition in the Madras High Court challenging the election of TVK candidate VS Babu from the Kolathur Assembly constituency.

In his petition, Stalin alleged electronic voting machine malfunctions and irregularities involving VVPAT machines, requesting a recount and asking the court to declare Babu's victory void. Stalin, who previously served three terms as the MLA for Kolathur, was defeated by Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes in the election.