MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and state government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by the Students Council of the Madurai Medical College seeking direction to the government not to choose the college as a counting centre for the Lok Sabha polls and future elections.
The office bearers of the council stated in the petition that the college, from the time of its establishment in 1954, has been used as a counting centre by the ECI to count votes during the parliamentary and assembly elections in Madurai. Even before the date of counting, the college is subjected to tight security and temporary structures to create space for strong rooms that store EVMs, partitions for counting halls, etc are also installed in the classrooms and lecture halls several days prior to the counting day, he added.
Due to this, the medical college students face many difficulties and their academic activities also get affected as they do not have access to several parts of the college and many of their classes, seminars and workshops get cancelled during this period.
Claiming that this would adversely impact the academic excellence of the college students, he requested the court to direct the authorities to choose an alternative location for the upcoming election as well as all other elections in the future. A bench of justices D Krishnakumar and R Vijayakumar, who heard the plea, issued notice to the authorities concerned and adjourned the case to January 23.