No early polls, says Jayakumar

Talking to reporters at Pudukkottai on Saturday, the Minister said the disqualified MLA had criticised the court verdict and a representation had been sent to the Madras High Court. The court would take contempt action on Thangathamizhselvan, he said.

The Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu would be held only in 2021 and there is no chance of elections before that time. The Parliament polls would be held next year and the local body elections would be conducted after the Supreme Court judgment, the Minister added.

Meanwhile, responding to the contempt of court petition against him, Thangathamizhselvan said he always respected the verdicts of judges and he had to criticise the judgment since there was no time frame given to the third judge to complete the proceedings in the case. If the courts heard the case for a long time, the tenure of the Assembly would come to an end.

Softening his stand on withdrawal of the case, he said, “I do not know if it is possible to withdraw the case or not. It is not clear if the petition should be given to the third judge or the Division Bench which delivered the verdict. I will go slowly on taking back the disqualification petition,” he said. It is also not known if the Election Commission would hold the bypoll to Andipatti immediately, he added. He has announced last week that he would withdraw his case against disqualification order of the Speaker.