SEC barred from notifying date for Kadambur TP poll

The Madras High Court on Friday restrained Tamil Nadu State Election Commission from announcing a fresh election date for Kadambur Town Panchayat (TP) where the urban local body polls were rescinded.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D Bharatha Chakravarthy passed the direction on hearing three pleas moved by independent candidates SVSP Nagaraja, Rajeswari and Siva Kumar.

The petitioners sought a direction to the SEC to not announce any fresh date for civic polls in Kadambur which is not going for polls on February 19.

“Nominations filed by three DMK candidates were rejected by election officers following people who proposed them claimed that their signatures have been forged in election documents. Therefore, the SEC should have declared us the winners in the wards concerned. However, the SEC barred the elections and intends to conduct a fresh election in a way helping the ruling party,” the petitioner submitted.

On recording the submissions, the bench directed the SEC and election officers of Kadambur TP to file their response in a week and ordered no fresh elections shall be announced till the next hearing.