SC directs TNSEC to hold local body polls in 9 districts

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to conduct local body polls in nine districts, which were carved out of four existing ones, by September 15.

A bench comprising of Justices Hemant Gupta and Aniruddha Bose, taking into consideration the order passed by the top court on December 11, 2019, said instead of four months, which were given to hold the elections, the poll panel has taken 18 months. The bench observed that in 2018-19, the tenure of the local bodies had expired and since then there are no new elected representatives. The bench warned that if court order is not complied, then poll body can face contempt action.

The top court said the notification for the election to the local bodies would have to be issued by the state poll panel and by September 15, the results would have to be declared. Senior advocate PS Narasimha, representing the Election Commission of India (ECI), submitted before the bench that the order passed in 2019, could not be implemented as assembly election was given priority and later there was West Bengal assembly election.

Narasimha added that Covid cases are high in number in the state and urged the court to give some more time to hold the elections in these nine districts. The bench said, these days Covid is usually cited as an excuse in every other matter and elections can be held when political parties want it.