Deposit refund: SEC call after Oct 18 hearing

Asked whether there was any demand for return of deposits from any of the over 5 lakh candidates, an SEC official said, “There has not even been a single request which makes us feel that the same aspirants will participate when the elections to the local bodies are announced afresh.” The postponement of the elections has resulted in the SEC having to kick start the entire process from the beginning. Officials are of the view that filing of nominations immediately after the announcement of polls would prevent unnecessary strife among parties and candidates in rural areas. 

“This was the first time that there were no problems even though a whopping 5 lakh and odd candidates filed their nominations for various posts. Usually there would be reports of clashes between aspirants over the issue of ‘official’ candidate and this was a big problem especially in panchayats. The urban bodies would be free of such problems, but in rural areas, filing of nominations usually would lead to scuffles and exchange of blows even” officials said. 

Once the commission issues the new poll notification, it will in all probability continue with the same principal election officers for the urban and rural segments, offi-cials said. However, one sore point with them is that the SEC has till date spent Rs 100 crore of the Rs183 crores sanctioned by the state government for the elections. A major portion of the sanctioned funds was spent on printing ballot papers for the rural bodies, which will different coloured ballots for different posts. Sources reveal that printing of ballots for panchayat presidents and ward members was completed as they were not based on any political party affiliation. 

Printing of ballots for ward members of district panchayats, panchayat unions and municipalities as also for Chennai corporation was yet to be undertaken as these posts were political party affiliated. Even as the filing of nomination ended on October 3 (Monday), the Madras High Court on October 4 (Tuesday) set aside the notification for civic polls in Tamil Nadu scheduled for October 17 and October 19. Passing orders on a batch of petitions, including from the main opposition party DMK, a single-judge bench asked the State Election Commission to issue a fresh noti-fication and complete the poll process by December this year. 

Following this the SEC filed a peition in the High Court challenging its October 4 order. A division bench hearing the appeal moved by the State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday (October 6) said that the poll process has already been put on hold. It further stated that now the only option available is to a fresh notification for the demo-cratic exercise. The bench, comprising Justices Huluvadi G. Ramesh and R. Parthiban, then posted the appeal to October 18 for further hearing.