DMK’s contempt petition for failure to hold local body elections closed

A division bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice M Sundar closed the contempt plea following submissions from senior counsel P Wilson on behalf of the DMK that the present government headed by the party was in the process of conducting the election. 

“One part of elections was conducted in January 2020 and the other part is going to be conducted by State Election commission. Hence, the contempt proceedings may be accordingly be put to an end,” he said. Appearing for the State Election Commission, advocate Siva Shanmugam submitted that steps were being taken to complete elections for all remaining local bodies. 

DMK had moved the plea citing failure of the then AIADMK government to abide by a High Court order on September 4 directing the government to hold the polls. 

A week ago, a division bench comprising Justice Sundresh and Justice SM Subramaniam had closed a contempt of court petition filed by DMK’s organisation secretary RS Bharathi in 2017 against the then Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner P Seetharaman for not holding polls despite specific court directions. 

It was closed after recording similar grounds that the incumbent government has embarked on the process of completing the process.