When will local body polls be held in TN?

Chiding the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC), Justice N Kirubakaran of the Madras High Court on Monday observed that the poll body was postponing the conduct of civic elections in the State under one pretext or the other.

“Do you have any real interest in holding elections to the local bodies?” judge N Kirubakaran asked the State Election Commission on Monday when a contempt application from one of the candidates whose nomination papers were rejected came up for hearing.

As per Justice Kirubakaran’s order, the local body elections should have been concluded by December 31, 2016. The order had not been stayed by any division bench. But the polls had been postponed on one pretext or the other, the judge said.

However, counsel for the TNSEC submitted that the Commission had never made any submission before the Division Bench that it was not possible to conduct the elections before May 14. He added that its stand was wrongly reported in the media.

Refusing to accept his contention, Justice Kirubakaran said: “Do not blame the media, there is no necessity for them to misreport.”

The counsel submitted that the SEC would like to implement all directions of the court and it has also started the poll process. The judge then said that he would wait for the result of the writ appeal and adjourned the matter till April 3.