Tamil Nadu: EC announces bypolls to 4 Assembly constituencies on May 19
Chennai: The Election Commission Tuesday announced by-polls to four assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu on May 19, which is the last phase of polling in the Lok Sabha election. The four vacant constituencies are — Sulur, Aravakurichi, Thiruparankundram and Ottapidaram (SC).
With this, by-polls are being held to 22 seats, including 16 that had fallen vacant following the disqualification of AIADMK legislators loyal to 'rebel' TTV Dhinakaran. The by-polls to 18 other seats are being held on April 18.
The EC said in a release that May 19 was decided for these four by-polls after taking into account various factors like festivals, electoral rolls and weather conditions. The gazette notification for these four constituencies would be issued on April 22 and the last date for filing of nominations would be April 29. Scrutiny of nominations would be on April 30 and last date of withdrawal May 2.
The Sulur seat fell vacant in March following the death of AIADMK MLA R Kanakaraj who died following cardiac arrest. Ottapidaram constituency is represented by disqualified AIADMK MLA Sundararaj while Thiruparankundram legislator A K Bose (also AIADMK) died last year. Aravakurichi is represented by Senthil Balaji, a disqualified AIADMK legislator who has since joined the DMK.
Earlier, the DMK had moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to EC for holding the by-elections to Tiruparankundram, Ottapidaram and Aravakurichi. The EC then told the court it would hold the polls within a reasonable time. DMK had contended that by-polls to 18 vacant seats are scheduled to be held on April 18 along with the Lok Sabha polls and wanted the EC to hold the by-elections to the remaining three assembly seats along with the general election.
Of the 18 seats, 16 had fallen vacant following the disqualification of AIADMK legislators loyal to TTV Dhinakaran. The by-poll to Tiruvarur seat was necessitated by the death of sitting member and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi while the Hosur seat fell vacant following the disqualification of Minister K Balakrishna Reddy after his conviction by a court in over a decades-old criminal case. The April 18 by-polls to these seats are crucial for the survival of the two year-old K Palaniswami government, whose strength in the 234-strong Assembly presently stands at 113, excluding the Speaker.
The ruling AIADMK must win at least four seats to win a confidence vote, assuming the Opposition would move one after May 19.
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