Summary:
New Delhi, Sep 20 (PTI) The Supreme Court Monday took strong note of Tamil Nadu State Election Commission"s (TNSEC) plea seeking 6 to 7 months more for concluding processes related to local bodies elections, saying the government can go for all elections except the local bodies.
“The government can do anything which it wants to do.
But whenever the issue of local bodies elections come up, they say, no, no,” a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana observed while hearing the plea.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the state poll panel, said the entire work force was busy with the assembly polls in the state in February and March and then COVID-19 hit the work related to the local bodies elections.
After hearing brief submissions, the bench, also comprising justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, sought the response of petitioner S Shankar, who had initially filed the PIL seeking holding of local body polls in the state, within two day on the plea of the state poll panel.
“This court vide order dated June 22, 2021 while disposing of the miscellaneous application, granted extension of time till 15th September, 2021 to complete the entire process including publication/notification of election schedule and the result thereof before 15th September, 2021 as the Constitutional mandate to conduct elections in the time bound manner cannot be defeated in any manner,” the bench said in its order.