The Madras High Court has directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct the local body elections in Tamil Nadu no later than May 14.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Nooty Ramamohana Rao and S.M. Subramaniam also directed the SEC 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 Bench passed the interim order 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.
In recent hearings, the Bench pulled up the SEC for dragging the plea, saying the commission is neither interested in conducting the election nor the case.
When the appeal came up for hearing on Tuesday, the Bench, noting that the issue cannot be dragged any further as it involves governance of a society, directed the SEC to complete the entire process by May 14.
The Bench also directed the State government to cooperate and provide necessary infrastructure to the SEC to facilitate the conduct of the polls. With regard to the appeal moved by the SEC, the Bench stated that the petition would be taken up for final hearing from March 6.
