CHENNAI: Explaining that appointment of polling personnel for local bodies elections is the choice of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC), the Madras High Court on Wednesday said it can’t interfere and run the poll body.
The observations were made by the first bench of Madras High Court headed by Acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari when a petition filed by former MLA and AIADMK legal wing functionary RM Babu Murugavel seeking appointment of officials from rural civic bodies to conduct the upcoming elections came up before the bench.
The petitioner’s counsel said that most of the litigations, after every elections, are related to mishandling of postal ballots and if officials from rural civic bodies can be drafted for polling duties in the current elections, the irregularities could be avoided.
However, the bench wondered whether officials from other States could be brought in for duty when elections to the State Assembly or Parliament are conducted. When the bench warned of imposing costs, the counsel withdrew the petition.