CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday informed the Madras High Court that it plans to deploy about 1.5 lakh web cameras for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, nearly three times the 45,000 cameras used in the previous election and argued against floating a fresh tender, which may hinder the drive.
The submission was made before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan during the hearing of a writ petition challenging eligibility conditions in a tender floated for providing webcasting services at polling stations and counting centres.
The Commission told the court that around 75,000 polling booths would be set up across the State for the April 23 Assembly elections, and that webcasting arrangements were being significantly expanded to strengthen monitoring.
The petition was filed by Chennai-based I-Net Secure Labs Private Limited, which challenged a tender condition requiring participating companies to have an annual turnover of Rs 100 crore.
Counsel for the petitioner argued that the firm has seven years of experience in election webcasting and has successfully executed similar assignments in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and six other States in accordance with ECI guidelines. The company also claimed to possess about 1.8 lakh web cameras, more than the requirement for the upcoming polls.
The petitioner contended that the Rs 100-crore turnover criterion was arbitrary and effectively excluded small and medium firms like it from the bidding process, and sought to have the tender notification set aside.
Opposing the plea, counsel for the ECI submitted that the petitioner had not participated in the tender process, which was scheduled to be opened at 3 pm on Tuesday (March 17). The Commission also argued that any modification to the tender conditions at this stage would disrupt election preparations.
After hearing both sides, the Bench directed the ECI to file its response by Tuesday (March 17) and adjourned the matter.