Supreme Court upbraids Tamil Nadu election commission over delay in conducting local polls

The Supreme Court noted that elections have not been held in these districts for nearly two years and pointed out that "Covid is a good excuse in all matters"as the state poll body cited the pandemic as one of the reasons for not holding the voting, according to an NDTV report. 

Appearing for the state election commission, senior advocate PS Narasimha told the Supreme Court that the Covid cases in the southern state were the highest and delimitation had to be conducted for the newly carved districts, said the report.

It is worth noting that cases in Tamilnadu were on the rise even earlier this month while Maharashtra, the worst-hit state, was witnessing continuous decline in coronavirus cases.

Tamil Nadu has so far reported 24.2 9 lakh total Coronavirus cases and 31,386 deaths.

However, the Supreme Court refused to excuse the state poll body on the ground of Covid-19 situation and Justice Hemant Gupta who headed the two- judge bench in the case replied "Covid is a good excuse in all matters", the report informed.

The state election commission said it required more time as electronic voting machines have to be brought from the Election Commission and delimitation has to be done.

According to the NDTV report, taking note of the reasons cited, the Supreme Court said: "We will give you time till September 15 to complete the election process. It is only nine districts. If not done, we will initiate contempt action against the state poll body."

However, later the bench removed the contempt part from its order after pleas by the state poll body.

The Supreme Court had allowed local polls in Tamilnadu in 2019, leaving out the nine new districts where delimitation was due.