RK Nagar Bypoll Should be Conducted Before December 31, Says Madras High Court

The Madras High Court on Tuesday reiterated that byelections to Chennai's RK Nagar constituency should be conducted before December 31.

Chennai, Nov 21: The Madras High Court on Tuesday reiterated that byelections to Chennai’s RK Nagar constituency should be conducted before December 31. The RK Nagar constituency has been lying vacant since former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016. The court had on September 18 passed an order saying the bypoll for the RK Nagar seat should be held preferably before December 31.

The RK Nagar by-election, which was earlier scheduled for April 12, was cancelled after allegations of bribery of voters. Following the allegations, several raids were conducted, following which the bypoll was cancelled.

The Election Commission on Monday informed the Madras High Court that it would not be able to declare the schedule for RK Nagar bypoll yet. The poll panel told the court that it was not in a position to declare the schedule due to the pendency of two petitions related to the matter.

Two petitions– one by the DMK’s Organising Secretary R S Bharathi and another by a candidate–were filed and were lying pending.

Meanwhile, while the AIADMK is yet to declare a candidate to contest the RK Nagar bypoll, sidelined party leader TTV Dinakaran has announced that he will be contesting it.