The Election Commission of India (EC) is likely to issue notification for the Thiruparankundram bypoll before the end of this month.
Vacancy for the Thiruparankundram constituency arose following the death of AIADMK member S.M. Seenivel (65) due to illness a few days after the results of the May 2016 Assembly elections were declared. He was hospitalised a day before the results were announced and died on May 25, even before the newly elected members took oath. In an extraordinary issue of the State government gazette on May 30 this year, Legislative Assembly Secretary A.M.P. Jamaludeen notified the vacancy.
As per the provision of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, a bypoll for filling any vacancy shall be held within six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
Informed sources said there were 27 days between the announcement of the poll schedule by the Commission on April 22 and the declaration of results of the votes polled on May 19. Going by that calculation, the Commission needed to announce the schedule for the bypoll before the end of this month. “It is likely that the bypoll would be notified soon,” an EC official said.
In the Assembly elections, Seenivel had polled 94,453 votes, while his nearest rival M. Manimaran (DMK) had polled only 70,461 votes. K Kandasamy of the CPI came a distant third (15,275 votes).
