The DMK urged the Election Commission to reconsider its position on the conduct of byelections in Ottapidaram, Aravakurichi and Tirupparankundram constituencies.
In its petition to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, the party requested them to announce the byelections to the three constituencies in Tamil Nadu along with the 18 other Assembly constituencies and 39 Parliamentary constituencies to be held on April 18.
“We would also like to bring to your notice that in Tamil Nadu, for the past two years, no local body elections have been held. There are no elected representatives at panchayats, municipal corporations and on top of that, 21 assembly seats have been vacant and therefore the people have had no representatives at all,” the petition said.
It also noted that if constituencies can be kept vacant mainly because of pendency of election petitions, then the party in power can set up candidates to file petitions.
“For all purposes, conduct of elections simultaneously would not only save precious time of the Election Commission but also the electorate and the candidates who are in the fray. Further it would cut down on the election related expenses,” it said.
The DMK said it was not fair on the Election Commission’s part to conduct byelections in these three constituencies separately when the legal position was tilting towards conduct of elections. The Election Commission has left out the three constituencies, citing pending court cases.
The DMK has moved the Supreme Court on the issue which has asked the Election Commission to reply by April 8.
“Without prejudice to our rights and contentions in the writ petition, we would like to request you to reconsider your stated position in light of the law laid down by the Supreme Court in a catena of cases. This representation is made taking into account the fact that time is running out and the last date for receipt of nomination is fixed as March 26, 2019 for the 18 other constituencies,” the DMK said in its petition.
The petition was submitted by DMK organising secretary and Rajya Sabha member R.S. Bharathi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior advocate P. Wilson, DMK MPs Tiruchi Siva and TKS Elangovan.
