Issue certified copies of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s nomination papers to defeated candidate, Madras High Court directs ECI

Published 9 June 2026 · local

The Madras High Court has directed Chennai district election officer (the Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner) to share certified copies of the accepted as well as

The Madras High Court has directed Chennai district election officer (the Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner) to share certified copies of the accepted as well as rejected nomination papers and affidavits of Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni MLA Udhayanidhi Stalin so that a defeated candidate in the constitutency could challenge his election within the statutory limit of 45 days. A Division Bench of Justices G.R. Swaminathan Lakshminarayanan issued the direction while allowing a writ petition filed by P. Milany of Theni district who had contested in Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency but lost to Mr. Udhayanidhi. Even before the declaration of the results on May 4, 2026, the petitioner had sought certain certified copies from the Returning Officer (RO). He had made representations to the RO on April 20, 2026 and April 27, 2026 seeking certified copies of all objections raised during the scrutiny of nomination papers on April 7, 2026 and also a certified copy of Form 7A (list of contesting candidates).

The petitioner further requested to furnish him the certified copies of the accepted affidavits of Mr. Udhayanidhi and five other candidates. The RO replied that the objections received against the nominations and Form 7A had been displayed on the notice board. In so far as the affidavits filed by the candidates were concerned, the writ petitioner was informed that they could be either downloaded from the Election Commission of India (ECI) website or obtained from the District Election Officer who would consolidate all such affidavits. After the declaration of the results, the petitioner made yet another representation to the RO on May 15, 2026 and again on May 20, 2026 seeking certified copies of the accepted as well as rejected nomination papers of the returned candidate, the orders passed by the RO rejecting the nominations of 15 candidates, the objections received by the RO for various nominations and the orders that were passed overruling those objections.

The RO did not respond and hence the petitioner chose to approach the High Court. On May 27, 2026, the Bench led by Justice Swaminathan ordered notice to the ECI and sought its response by May 29, 2026 since it was an election matter that had to be dealt with urgently. The counsel for the ECI relied upon a 2024 circular and claimed that the certified copies could be issued only after 45 days form the date of declaration of results. After recording his submission, the judges reserved their verdict on May 19, 2026 and pronounced the orders in the case on June 8, 2026. They held that the ECI could not be heard to say that the documents could be issued only after 45 days when the Representation of the People Act, 1951 strictly mandates that election petitions must be filed within 45 days from the date of declaration of results.