MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, on Tuesday, issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the State government on a PIL seeking direction to ensure that officials on poll duty are able to cast their vote through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) instead of postal ballots.
The litigant S Pandidurai of Theni submitted that in 2011 Assembly elections, nearly 23,319 out of 1,29,413 votes polled through postal ballots turned out to be invalid. Whereas, nearly 99.95 percent of votes cast through EVMs were found valid.
The same situation prevailed in 2016 elections too, wherein 25,883 postal votes were found invalid. When the ECI’s motto is to ensure that no voter is left behind, it should ensure that all persons engaged in election duty are able to cast their votes, Pandidurai stated and sought the above direction. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee issued notice and adjourned the case.