The Madras High Court has criticised the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) for having cancelled elections for all wards in Kadambur Town Panchayat of Thoothukudi district just because the nominations of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party candidates had been rejected in three wards.
Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy wrote: “The election commission is not right in espousing the cause of a section of people or any political party including the ruling political party which suddenly wanted to put up candidates in respect of the unopposed wards also.”
The judges went on to state: “In our view, to help the persons/political parties interested to put up new candidates in these wards, the power of cancellation is exercised. Thus, it virtually amounts to a colourable exercise to extend the time limit for filing nominations after the expiry of the schedule.”
