CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday ruled in favour of the order of the Election Commission of India (ECI) on voting through postal ballots for those aged above 80 years, persons with disabilities, and those infected or suspected to be infected by Covid-19, in the upcoming Assembly election.
The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order while dismissing a plea moved by the DMK, challenging the ECI notification. The court also observed that the experience gained in implementing the new system by the ECI will aid the authorities in refining it in the future elections.
According to the DMK, the provision in Section 60(c) of the Representation of the People’s Act violates the secrecy in voting guaranteed in direct elections. The DMK also contended that the Section allows the executive to name anyone to be entitled to postal ballots, who can skip visiting polling booths and political parties’ audit. Such an unbridled power is antithesis and arbitrary to law, and is liable to be quashed.