Hearing a writ petition filed by DMK organising secretary R.S. Bharathi against the Election Commission’s decision to conduct the election for the Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Assembly constituencies on June 13, the Madras High Court on Saturday directed the EC to instruct all contesting candidates to submit their objections to the proposed date, if any, and decide on the date preferably by May 27.
This was after the EC submitted that its notification setting June 13 as the polling date was “not conclusive” and it could be pushed back if necessary.
Hearing the petition that also sought for the election to be held on May 23 as announced earlier, the vacation bench comprising Justice K. Kalyanasundaram and R. Mahadevan said, “Since the Election Commission has invited objections, the same has to be considered without causing any undue delay.”
Mr. Shanmugasundaram, senior counsel appearing for DMK, submitted that the polls for Aravakurichi and Thanjavur would have an impact on Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on June 11, and since June 13 would be falling within the holy month of Ramzan, it could affect the polling percentage.
During the hearing, when Niranjan Rajagopalan, counsel for EC, submitted that the Commission had invited objections from the candidates, Justice Mahadevan observed that it could not set June 13 as the date if it was seeking objections from candidates.
