CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has dismissed a writ petition seeking a direction to explore the feasibility of conducting local body polls simultaneously with the Legislative Assembly elections, after the petitioner chose to withdraw the plea.

In Tamil Nadu, the tenure of rural local bodies in 27 districts expired in January, while the tenure of local bodies in the remaining districts is set to expire shortly.

In this context, an advocate from Tiruvallur, ND Sivakumaran, had filed a writ petition before the High Court seeking a direction to the authorities to examine the feasibility of holding elections to local bodies polls along with the State Legislative Assembly elections.

In the petition, it was contended that conducting both elections simultaneously would reduce expenditure for the State and save public time.

When the matter came up for hearing before a Division Bench comprising the Hon'ble Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan, the Bench observed that the notification for the Legislative Assembly elections had already been issued.

In response, the petitioner submitted that such a proposal could be considered for implementation in the future.

The Bench advised the petitioner to make an appropriate representation before the Election Commission in this regard. Subsequently, recording the submission of the petitioner seeking leave to withdraw the writ petition, the Court dismissed the same as withdrawn.