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The Election Commission on Tuesday announced bypolls to four assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu on May 19, which is the last phase of polling in the Lok Sabha election.
The four vacant constituencies are -- Sulur, Aravakurichi, Thirupparankundram and Ottapidaram (SC).
With this, bypolls are being held for 22 seats, including 16 that had fallen vacant following the disqualification of ruling AIADMK MLAs loyal to TTV Dhinakaran.
The bypolls to 18 other seats are being held on April 18.
In a release, the Election Commission said the date was decided after taking in to consideration various factors like festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions.
The date of issue of gazette notification for the four constituencies would be on April 22 and the last date for filing of nominations April 29.
Scrutiny of nominations would be on April 30 and last date of withdrawal will be on May 2.
The Sulur seat fell vacant in March following the death of AIADMK MLA, R Kanakaraj who died following cardiac arrest.
Ottapidaram constituency is represented by disqualified AIADMK MLA Sundararaj while Thiruparankundram legislator A K Bose (also AIADMK) died last year.
Aravakurichi is represented by Senthil Balaji, a disqualified AIADMK legislator who has since joined the DMK.
Earlier, the DMK had moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the poll panel for holding the by-elections to Tiruparankundram, Ottapidaram and Aravakurichi.
The EC had told the court that it will hold the polls within a reasonable time.
DMK had contended that bypolls to 18 vacant seats are scheduled to be held on April 18 along with the Lok Sabha polls in the state and wanted the EC to hold the by-elections to the remaining three assembly seats along with the general election.
Of the 18 seats, 16 had fallen vacant following the disqualification of ruling AIADMK MLAs loyal to TTV Dhinakaran.
The by-poll to Tiruvarur seat was necessitated by the death of sitting member and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi while the Hosur seat fell vacant following the disqualification of Minister K Balakrishna Reddy after his conviction by a court in over a decades-old criminal case.
The April bypolls to these seats are crucial for the over two year-old K Palaniswami government as its survival depends on the outcome of the elections.
The ruling AIADMK has to win a significant number of the seats to retain power. Its strength in the 234 member Tamil Nadu Assembly presently stands at 113, excluding the Speaker. A simple majority is 117.
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