By-election for Tiruvarur constituency to be held before February 7

State Chief Electoral Officer, Satyabrata Sahoo, on Monday said the by-election to the Tiruvarur Assembly will be conducted before February 7 next year. He made the submission in his counter affidavit to a public interest litigation petition filed by KK Ramesh of Madurai in the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court here.

In the petition that came up for hearing before a division bench of Justices KK Sasidharan and PD Audikesavalu, the petitioner said the Tiruvarur seat fell vacant after the demise of DMK leader M Karunanidhi. The Tiruparankundram constituency in Madurai district also fell vacant following the demise of AK Bose, a former MLA. Since these two constituencies were declared vacant by the Election Commission (EC), bypolls should have to be held within six months after such declaration, as per EC norms, the petitioner had submitted.

When the EC was about to issue the notification for the bypolls, the schedule was indefinitely postponed citing monsoon rainfall and such a reason could not be accepted, the petitioner had said. Further, he had added that since the Lok Sabha elections would be conducted in a few months and if the bypolls to these constituencies were conducted before that, their outcome could change the political scenario. Citing these, the petitioner had sought the bench to order the EC to conduct the bypolls.