Tamil Nadu Elections: Supreme Court refuses to hear ‘quick disposal’ PIL, High Court shows the way

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to hear a PIL seeking direction to the Madras High Court to ensure early disposal of 54 election petitions related to the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. In fact, Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) led by actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay had won the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections held on April 23 this year.

Before a bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana, petitioner K. Senior advocate D.S. appeared on behalf of Venkatachalapathi. Naidu argued that the Madras High Court should be directed to set up a special bench for expeditious disposal of election petitions. On this the Chief Justice said, ‘This will set a wrong example’. Along with this, the bench refused to consider the petition. However, the bench allowed the petitioner to approach the Madras High Court for necessary relief.

54 election petitions are pending in the High Court

In the petition filed through advocate Sameer Malik, it was requested that 54 election petitions related to Tamil Nadu Assembly elections pending in the Madras High Court be directed to be disposed of within a time limit of 6 months. It was said in the petition that this period is prescribed in Section 86(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RPA) or these petitions should be disposed of within such period as the court deems appropriate.

Challenge the validity of the election results

The petition said that these election petitions, filed between June 3 and June 18, have challenged the validity of the election results of various assembly constituencies after the Tamil Nadu Assembly election results declared on May 4. According to the petition, due to long pending of these disputes, the legislative intention behind the Representation of the People Act is defeated.

The petition states that under Section 86(7) of the RPA, it is mandatory that election petitions be heard as expeditiously as possible and efforts be made to complete their hearing within 6 months of being presented before the High Court. In this it has been argued that it is necessary to take timely decisions to maintain the sanctity of the electoral process, maintain democratic governance and maintain public confidence in elections.

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