The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) has informed the Madras High Court that they have “practical difficulties” in conducting elections to the local bodies by May 14 as directed by the court.
“Certain aspects in connection with elections, which have to be completed by the State government has not been completed yet. In this circumstance, it is not practically possible for the Commission to complete the election process by May 14,” senior counsel B. Kumar for TNSEC said.
Earlier, moving an intervening petition, social activist A. Narayanan, relying on a five- judge directive of the Supreme Court, contended that the elections to local body cannot be deferred beyond six months after the expiry of the current term. “Postponing the election beyond six months would be violation of constitutional mandate,” N.L. Rajah, senior counsel for the intervenor said.
Noting how the Commission can be forced to conduct elections, when they claim that there are practical difficulties, the First Bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G. Ramesh and Justice R.M.T. Teeka Raman direction the TNSEC to file a detailed counter explaining the difficulties. The commission was also directed to file this response to the constitutional bar pointed out by the intervening petitioner by April 3.
On February 22, a Division Bench of the court directed TNSEC to conduct the local body elections in Tamil Nadu no later than May 14. The commission was also directed to “truthfully” comply with the directions issued earlier by a single judge, including making mandatory the filing of affidavits declaring criminal antecedents of candidates and uploading them on the commission’s website.
The interim order was passed on an appeal moved by the SEC assailing the order of a single judge dated October 4, 2016, cancelling the election notification dated September 26, 2016, citing non-compliance with the Tamil Nadu Panchayat (Elections) Rules, 1995. As a consequence, the elections scheduled for October 2016 stood cancelled.
