Madras High Court rejects DMK candidate’s election petition over Perundurai constituency
The Madras High Court has dismissed an election petition filed by a former DMK candidate challenging the victory of S. Jayakumar in the Perundurai constituency. This ruling is significant as it allows the Election Commission of India to proceed with bypolls that were previously stalled pending the resolution of such petitions.
Why it matters
The decision clarifies the legal path for conducting by-elections in Tamil Nadu, impacting the political composition of the state assembly.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) rejected an election petition filed by DMK candidate for the Perundurai Assembly constituency, Thoppu Venkatachalam alias N.D. Vekatachalam , challenging the victory of S. Jayakumar, who had contested as an AIADMK candidate but joined the ruling TVK after resigning from his MLA post.
It may be noted that Mr. Venkatachalam recently quit the DMK, after he was removed from the post of the party’s Erode Central district secretary.
Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy allowed an application filed by Mr. Jayakumar, through his counsel A.P. Suryaprakasam, to reject the election petition. The applicant had won the seat by a margin of 9,693 votes. He had secured 70,302 votes against 60,609 votes garnered by the election petitioner, but submitted his resignation to Legislative Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar on May 25, 2026, before joining the TVK.
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