Chennai: The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission has filed an affidavit in the Madras high court to grant further extension of time up to May 31 for the preparation of the electoral roll and to complete the process of election to local bodies in the state before July 2017.
T.S. Rajasekar, secretary, TNSEC stated this in his affidavit filed in the court on Thursday.
Originally, on a petition from the DMK party, Justice N. Kirubakaran had on October 4, 2016, set aside the election notifications issued by the SEC and directed it to conduct the election by December 31. Aggrieved, the SEC filed the present appeal. Passing orders on the appeal, the bench had on February 22 directed the SEC to conduct the election not later than May 14. Subsequently, the DMK party through senior counsel P. Wilson has filed a contempt petition against TNSEC and the state government for their willful disobedience of the order of the court as there was no sign of commencing any process for the election. The appeal and the contempt petition were pending. The case was posted for hearing on April 18.
In his present affidavit, Rajasekar submitted that the SEC has sincerely initiated all necessary action for complying with the order of the court relating to disposal of various representations. SC in its order dated March 22, 2017, on a petition from P.K.Ganesan, had directed that the high court may be approached for modification/extension of the date with regard to completion of election process fixed on May 14. The preparation of electoral roll and conduct of all elections shall be vested with the SEC consisting.
The tenure of the TN State Election Commissioner was completed on March 22 and the office of the Constitutional authority was vacant since then. The TNSEC was in a position to complete the preparation of electoral roll of local bodies by the end of May based on the timeline prescribed by the National Informatics Centre and considering the activities completed and pending.
“It is prayed this court may grant further extension of time up to May 31 for preparation of electoral roll and to complete the process of election before July after appointment of Commission and after due consultation with the government for the issuance of election notification, he added.
