New
Delhi:
Tamil Nadu State Election Commission was today pulled up by the Supreme Court
over delay in conducting local polls in nine new districts.
As
the court observed that the local elections have not been conducted for nearly
two years in these districts, it gave a deadline till September 15, and
stressed: “Covid is a good excuse in all matters”.
Senior
Advocate PS Narasimha, representing the state poll body, told the court that
Covid cases in Tamil Nadu are “the highest in the country and delimitation has
to be done in the newly carved out nine districts”. The state has so far logged
24.29 lakh total coronavirus cases and 31,386 deaths. Even as Maharashtra saw a
drop in infections, Tamil Nadu had been witnessing a surge earlier this month.
Justice
Hemant Gupta, heading a two-judge bench, replied, “Covid is a good excuse in
all matters.”
The
state election commission said it needed more time “because electronic voting
machines will have to brought from the Election Commission, and delimitation
has to be done”.
The
Supreme Court finally 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.”
The
top court later removed the contempt part from its order amid pleas from the
election body.
The
Supreme Court had allowed local polls in Tamil Nadu in 2019, leaving out nine
new districts where delimitation had to be done.
The
state voted to elect a new government in April and the DMK’s MK Stalin
succeeded the AIADMK’s Edapaddi K. Palaniswami in May as the Chief Minister
when the results were declared. Elections were also held in Bengal, Assam,
Kerala and Pondicherry and huge poll rallies were linked to surge in infections
amid the second Covid wave.
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