In what could further delay the conduct of the local body elections, the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) has filed yet another sub-application in the Madras High Court, stating that it will not be possible to issue the notification for the polls before May 31 and that it required three more months’ time.
Only in January, the commission assured a Division Bench of Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M. Sundar that the poll notification will definitely be issued before May 31, on completion of the process of delimitation of constituencies and reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women.
However, now, the TNSEC has said it could not complete electoral roll verification since the rolls were handed over to it by the Election Commission only in April, though they were expected by as early as January. It also stated that all officials were busy with the parliamentary elections.
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Citing these two reasons, the TNSEC urged the court to grant it three more months for issuing the poll notification. The sub-application seeking additional time is expected to be listed for hearing before the Division Bench only after June 3, when the High Court reopens after a month-long summer vacation.
It was on September 4, 2017 that the first Division Bench comprising then Chief Justice Indira Banerjee (now a Supreme Court judge) and Justice Sundar directed the TNSEC to notify the local body polls in the State by September 18 and complete the entire election process by November 17.
However, this order was not complied with, leading to the filing of a contempt of court petition by the DMK against Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, Municipal Administration Secretary Harmander Singh, Rural Development Secretary Hans Raj Verma, State Election Commissioner M. Malik Feroze Khan and TNSEC Secretary T.S. Rajasekar.
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After the elevation of Justice Banerjee to the Supreme Court, the contempt petition was listed before a Bench led by Justice Sathyanarayanan on multiple occasions, during which the TNSEC took a stand that it could not comply with the 2017 court order because of an ordinance promulgated by the government just a day before the verdict.
The Bench was told that the ordinance was issued on September 3, 2017, a Sunday, amending certain legal provisions which required a delimitation exercise to be carried out before conducting the elections. Thereafter, it took time periodically for completing the delimitation and related exercises, and the commission asserted that the polls would be notified before May 31.
As per High Court rules, a contempt petition and related sub-applications should be listed only before the same judge/judges who had passed the order that had reportedly not been complied with. It was for this reason that, after the elevation of Justice Banerjee, Justice Sundar was made part of the other Bench constituted for hearing the contempt plea.
However, since neither Justice Sathyanarayanan nor Justice Sundar was scheduled to conduct court proceedings during the summer vacation, the sub-application would be listed only after June 3, unless the DMK makes a mention before the Chief Justice and obtains permission for the constitution of the Bench during the vacation.