The Madras High Court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to respond to a representation made by All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) to deploy government staff from other States or from Central services as observers for the local body polls in the nine-newly carved out districts, scheduled next month.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Audikesavalu said it was not right on the part of the TNSEC to not respond to a representation made by the principal Opposition party in the State, and ordered that a reply must be sent to the party on or before September 29. The judges also impressed upon the TNSEC, the need to conduct the polls in a free and fair manner.
The interim orders were passed on a writ petition filed by the AIADMK complaining of non-consideration of its representation seeking implementation of various measures to ensure purity in the election process. Representing the party, senior counsel Vijay Narayan said the party also wanted deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel during the poll process.
He said another important demand was to install closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras during the polling, at the strong rooms as well as during the counting of votes so that any complaint regarding malpractices could be addressed appropriately. He said though the AIADMK had made a representation in this regard on September 14, the TNSEC was yet to respond.
On the other hand, counsel representing the TNSEC informed the court that the issues highlighted by the petitioner party had already been considered and appropriate measures had been put in place by the commission to ensure free and fair polls. He said there were 14,573 polling stations and that three-tier police security had been arranged to ensure peaceful polling.
After hearing him, the judges insisted that the TNSEC must respond to the representation made by AIADMK, immediately after the announcement of the polls on September 13. They also accepted a request made by Mr. Narayan to list the writ petition once again on September 30 so that further orders, if necessary, could be passed on that day for free and fair conduct of the local body polls on October 6.
