Voters seen in a queue at a polling station in Coimbatore on Lok Sabha polling day in T.N., on April 19, 2024 | Photo Credit: PERIASAMY M
The Madras High Court on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, refused to order special polling for the Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency for those who could not exercise their franchise because of their names having been rescinded from the electoral list. Polling in Coimbatore took place during the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, held in Tamil Nadu on April 19.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice G. Chandrasekharan disposed of a public interest litigation petition filed by R. Suthanthira Kanna, a doctor employed in Australia, after observing that no orders could be passed when the petitioner had failed to check the draft and final electoral lists.
The judges recorded the submission of the Election Commission of India (ECI)‘s standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan that the final electoral list was published in January itself but the PIL petitioner before the court had not raised any objection with respect to his name missing from it.
Further, the standing counsel, on the basis of oral instructions, informed the Division Bench that the petitioner’s name was removed from the voters’ list even during the 2021 Assembly elections held in the State. After taking note of his submissions, the judges said, they do not find any reason to entertain the petition.
