The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday told the Madras High Court that though it had taken a decision on July 18, 2023, to use educational institutions as vote counting centres only as a last resort, Madurai Medical College’s administrative block could not be exempted from being used as a centre for the Parliamentary elections this year.
In a counter affidavit filed before Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo said the medical college had served as a vote counting centre for five parliamentary and five Assembly elections since 1998 and that the Commission could not find any suitable alternative place this year.
The counter was filed in response to a public interest litigation petition filed jointly by college’s student council president M. Raj Mohamed, vice-president B. Yalini, general secretaries Alwin John and J. Anamika, men’s hostel general secretary U.S. Kamalesh and women’s hostel general secretary Swernerekha against the use of their college building for counting of votes.
