Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Thursday (August 27, 2026) contended before the Madras High Court that his rival candidate S. Inigo Irudayaraj of DMK in Tiruchi East Assembly constituency has failed to demonstrate how alleged use of children in an election campaign can be raised as a ground for nullifying an election.“Even assuming the allegations to be correct for the limited purpose of the present application (to reject the election petition),” the election petitioner had failed to plead the necessary material facts required to declare an election void under Section 100 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, he said.The submissions were made in an application filed before Justice V. Lakshminarayanan to reject Mr. Irudayaraj’s election petition. After hearing senior counsel Srinath Sridevan, assisted by Pranjal Agarwal, for the Chief Minister, the judge directed the Registry to number the application and list it on Monday (August 31, 2026).In his election petition, Mr. Irudyaraj had accused the Chief Minister of having “blackmailed” the children during the 2026 Tamil Nadu Assembly election campaign. “The first respondent (Mr. Vijay) has, through his speeches, emotionally targeted and, to a degree, even blackmailed vulnerable children and impressionable minds to garner votes of their family members,” the petition read.However, in his plea to reject the election petition, Mr. Vijay said, an election petition could not be filed on the basis of mere assertions that the voters were “emotionally swayed” without there being any material facts to establish that the appeal made by the returned candidate had actually resulted in a particular number of votes having been cast in his favour.The Chief Minister also said, though the election petitioner had accused him of having used religion to garner votes, the petitioner had not set out the precise words, communication or representation. He argued that the allegations regarding excess election expenditure were vague and that expenditure incurred by TVK party functionaries could not be attributed to him.Aadhav Arjuna too files rejection applicationSeparately, Minister for Public Works and Sports Development Aadhav Arjuna of TVK has denied the allegation of having misrepresented the assets owned by him and and his wife Daisy Aadhav Arjuna in his election affidavit and urged the Madras High Court to reject an election petition filed by his rival candidate Karthik Mohan of DMK challenging his victory from Villivakkam constituency in May this year.In the rejection application filed also before Justice Lakshminarayanan, the Minister said, he had made true and correct disclosure in the Form 26 affidavit filed before the Returning Officer and that even if any information had been missed that by itself could not become a reason for invalidating an election unless there were materials to prove that such non disclosure had materially affected the result of the polls.The applicant said, the election petition had been filed primarily on the grounds that he had suppressed 50% of shareholding by his wife in Dominant Towers and Traders Private Limited because she and the company were facing action under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. He had also been accused of suppressing details regarding assets held by him and his wife in their capacities as directors of certain companies.“Merely because we are allegedly the directors of a company, it does not imply that my wife or I own the assets of those companies. Even otherwise, such a disclosure is not envisaged in law... In so far as the allegation regarding non disclosure of my spouse’s alleged impleadment as an accused in a case under the PMLA is concerned, such a disclosure is not envisaged in law,” his application read. Published - August 27, 2026 07:04 pm IST