Notice issued to SEC on AIADMK’s plea for free and fair civic polls

A division bench comprising Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice PD Audikesavalu issued the direction while hearing the plea by senior leader D Jayakumar who filed the petition on behalf of the AIADMK. His counsel Vijay Narayan submitted that the manner in which the rural local body elections was conducted in October was a clear indication that the independence of SEC was questionable.

Despite the directions issued by the court ahead of rural local body polls, including video coverage of all polling stations, counting centres and strong rooms, and appointment of observers for each block, there were many violations that gave an unfair advantage to the ruling party, he submitted. Noting how the nominations of AIADMK candidates were rejected citing papers missing from their nomination, he said it was necessary to attest how many papers were submitted at the time of filing nomination for the urban local body election. He also sought the court to issue directions to the poll panel to ensure proper conduct of the election.

Recording the submission, the bench directed the SEC to file its response and posted the matter to January 3.