MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Friday sought response from the State Election Commission (SEC) with regard to inclusion of ‘format C-1’ (declaration of criminal cases) along with the nomination form to be submitted by candidates contesting in local body elections.
A Bench comprising Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P Velmurugan gave the direction while hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by B Ramkumar Adityan, an advocate from Thoothukudi. Adityan said the Supreme Court judgment, dated September 25, 2018, had mandated candidates to publish the ‘format C-1’ declaration in newspapers and TV.
“However, during the rural local body elections in 2019 and the recent rural local body elections conducted in nine districts, the SEC neither followed the judgment nor uploaded the nominations and affidavits,” he added. Accepting the submissions, the Bench sought reply from the SEC and adjourned the case to Monday.