Madras High Court Admits Pleas Challenging Election Victory Of CM Joseph Vijay, Minister Aadhav Arjuna
Upasana Sajeev
7 July 2026 11:04 AM IST
The Madras High Court on Tuesday (July 7th) admitted the election petitions challenging the victory of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Joseph Vijay, from the Perambur and Trichy (east) constituencies during the 2026 assembly elections.
The court also admitted election petitions challening the victory of Tamil Nadu Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna from the Villivakkam constituency.
Justice V Lakshminarayana, on Tuesday, noted that some of the necessary requirements in connection with an election petition were missing in the present petitions. The court thus directed the petitioners to comply with the ministerial requirements like filing Form 25, and directed the registry to issue notice, returnable by 3 weeks, after the corrections are made by the petitioners.
Noting that the election petitions were required to be completed as expeditiously as possible, within 6 months, the judge also permitted private notice.
"Ministerial requirements should be completed by the petitioners within 1 week. After compliance, the registry is directed to issue notice to the respondents returnable by 3 weeks. Since the entire proceedings are to be completed within 6 months, in addition to notice through the court, I'm inclined to permit the petitioners to take private notice," the court said..
In the plea filed by RD Sekar challenging CM Vijay's victory from the Perambur constituency, the court has ordered notice to the respondents.
Out of the four election petitions against Vijay, three have been filed challenging his victory from the Perambur constituency, and one challenges his victory from the Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) East constituency. Two petitions have been filed challenging the current Sports Minister Aadhav Arjuna's victory from the Villivakkam assembly constituency.
It may be noted that the elections to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly were held on April 23, 2026, and the results were declared on May 4, 2026. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party received the highest number of votes (108) but was short of the majority required to form the government (118 seats).
The TVK party then held meetings with other political parties and sought to form an alliance government. The TVK then staked a claim to form a government with the support of alliance parties, including the Indian National Congress (INC), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Communist Party of India (Marxist), and Communist Party of India (CPI).
It may be noted that Chief Minister Joseph Vijay had contested the elections from two constituencies - Trichy East and Perambur, and had won in both constituencies. He later decided to resign from the Trichy East Constituency, necessitating a by-election in the constituency.
In the plea challenging Vijay's victory from the Trichy East constituency, the DMK candidate from the constituency, Inigo Irudayaraj, argued that Vijay had suppressed material information in connection with pending cases against him and had not given details of his election expenses. The petitioner also argues that Vijay was involved in corrupt practices by engaging children in his election campaign. The petitioner thus seeks to declare Vijay's victory as void and to declare him the winning candidate. The petitioner has also sought a stay on the bye-election for the constituency as a bye-election during the pendency of the plea would render it infructuous.
