CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday ordered notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) directing it to file reply to a petition seeking to ensure only those candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) communities professing Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism be allowed to contest the upcoming Assembly election in constituencies reserved for the caste.
Issuing the direction, the first bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan adjourned the hearing of the petition by Hindu Makkal Katchi president Arjun Sampath to Thursday.
When the counsel for the petitioner continued to make submissions even after the bench directed the ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan to file a response, it said, “Nothing is going to happen in the next 48 years.”
The petitioner cited Section 33 (2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Clause (3) of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, and the recent Supreme Court judgment on SC status of Dalits converting to other religions to press for the prayer.
Meanwhile, the first bench dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by T Prabhakaran, a resident of Triplicane, seeking directions to the authorities concerned to defer two IPL matches featuring Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk stadium on April 4 and April 11.
The bench also dismissed another petition by advocate ML Ravi, founder of Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi, seeking to bar persons belonging to a particular party from contesting on the symbols of other parties. The petitioner also sought directions to the ECI to frame guidelines and regulatory mechanisms to prevent “misuse of the reserved symbol” of political parties. Another PIL seeking extension of the time period for filing nomination papers was also dismissed.