Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister C Joseph Vijay has sought the Madras high court to vacate the stay against conducting byelection to five assembly constituencies—Trichy East, Karur, Viralimalai, Perundurai and Ambasamudram—as it would affect the interest of lakhs of people in the constituencies.The submission was made in response to a public interest writ petition moved by K Venkatachalapathy which seeks to prevent the Election Commission of India (ECI) from conducting byelections in constituencies where the elected candidates have resigned while election petitions are pending.Claiming that the PIL is effectively a “proxy war” on behalf of the election petitioners, Vijay contended that if anyone could potentially be prejudiced by a by-election being conducted while an election petition is pending, it would be the election petitioner, particularly if that person seeks relief under Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act.Therefore, the present PIL petitioner has no personal grievance and is attempting to litigate on behalf of third parties, he said.Preventing by-elections would deprive several lakhs of voters of an elected representative for an indefinite period, merely to protect the possible future interest of an individual election petitioner, he added.He further pointed out that in four of the five constituencies the election petitions were filed after the resignation, acceptance of resignation, and notification of the vacancy. The returned candidates had already ceased to be returned candidates by the time those election petitions were presented.
