A writ petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (EC) as well as the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to initiate appropriate action against Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) public relations officer (PRO) S.M. Dhivahar for having allegedly violated the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
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The petition has been listed for admission before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad on Thursday. Tirunelveli-based advocate S. Veilumuthu had filed the case accusing the CMDA PRO of having disseminated to the media an election related political news through his official e-mail address.
The petitioner said the MCC was in force across the State at present in view of the Lok Sabha election on April 19. In such circumstances, CMDA Minister P.K. Sekarbabu participated in a political meeting organised by DMK’s Chennai North candidate Kalanithi Veerasamy on March 29 and highlighted the achievements of the State government.
The CMDA PRO had issued a press release regarding this event to the media from his official e-mail address and this amounted to violating the MCC since government servants were expected to remain neutral and not align themselves with any political party during the poll process, the petitioner said, and insisted upon taking the necessary action against the officer.
He also claimed to have made representations in this regard to the EC as well as the CEO on April 2 and April 6 but claimed that there was no action so far.