The Madras High Court has sought an explanation from the General Manager, Southern Railway, as to why a request was not placed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) to extend the facility of postal ballots to all railway employees in Tamil Nadu.
The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice J. Sathya Narayana Prasad have ordered notice to the General Manager, returnable by April 10, on a public interest litigation petition filed by V. Ram Kumar of Tirumangalam in Madurai district.
ECI counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan told the Bench that the commission had written to the railways as early as on February 16, 2024 wanting to know whether it wanted the facility of postal ballot be extended to its employees too, and had insisted upon a reply by March 25, 2024. Since no reply was received before the cut-off date, the postal ballot facility could not be extended now to the railway employees in Tamil Nadu, the ECI counsel said.
