Cooperative society poll row: Another PIL moved

A division bench comprising Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice N Seshasayee before whom the PIL from VR Annamalai and L Pachchaiyappan came up, adjourned the case for further hearing to April 13. The petitioners had contended that while the elections to 18,775 societies were set to be held in four stages starting from March 12 and ending on April 28, rampant malpractices have surfaced, and the election was held in an undemocratic manner without any transparency in so far as the first and second phase of election was concerned. 

Besides media reports reflecting the grievances of many candidates, the spate of litigations at the High Court challenging the entire election process as unconstitutional and biased was indication enough that all was not well, the petitioners submitted and stressed that the whole process has been vitiated in a bid to favour ruling party candidates. 

The petitioners further stated that as per Article 43 B, it is the obligation of the State to promote autonomous functioning, democratic control and professional management of cooperative society.