The Madras High Court on Thursday (October 1, 2026) refused to reject an election petition filed by a voter challenging the victory of Esakki Subaya from the Ambasamudram Legislative Assembly constituency during the general elections conducted earlier this year.

Justice P.B. Balaji dismissed an application filed by Mr. Subaya, who had won as an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate but resigned from his MLA post before joining the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), to reject the election petition preferred by Kanthimathinathan.

The judge, however, allowed another application filed by the resigned MLA to reject certain pleadings made by the election petitioner in his plea.

The refusal to reject the election petition assumes significance in light of the fact that Ambasamudram was one of the five constituencies where byelections had been stalled by a Division Bench of the High Court due to pending election petitions.

Pursuant to the interim stay order passed by the Division Bench in a public interest litigation (PIL) petition on July 10, 2026, the ECI had filed a counter affidavit in response to the PIL petition stating that it, too, does not intend to conduct bypolls to the five constituencies: Tiruchi East, Perundurai, Ambasamudram, Viralimalai, and Karur.

However, after the filing of the counter affidavit, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy of the High Court on September 8, 2026, rejected the election petition filed against the victory of S. Jayakumar, who also had won as an AIADMK candidate but resigned from his MLA post before joining the TVK.

Hence, in the written submissions filed before the first Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G. Arul Murugan during the final hearing on the PIL petition, the ECI urged the Bench to exempt Perundurai alone from its interim stay order.

The ECI told the court that byelection could be conducted for the Perundurai constituency as the election petition had been rejected, if the Supreme Court does not grant any stay and if the Division Bench exempts that constituency alone from the five constituencies where bypolls had been stalled.

The present refusal to reject the election petition with respect to the Ambasamudram constituency might delay the conduct of bypolls in the constituency.