Lok Sabha Election 2024 : Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Questioning Gap Between Date of Polling and Date of Counting

The bench of Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy observed that the plea does not espouse any public cause and that the court could not issue directions to the Election Commission of India regarding the manner of conducting elections.

“Is this really a Public Interest Litigation? How are you affected? The date of election, how it is to be conducted etc is within the purview of the ECI. How can the courts direct ECI to conduct elections? Can you show us how fundamental rights have been violated? There is no provision under law which says that election process has to be completed within these many days. This is not a public interest litigation at all,” the court orally remarked before dismissing the plea.

The petitioner, Ezhilan had argued that the long gap between the date of polling and the date of counting was arbitrary, illegal, and against the principles of natural justice. The polling in Tamil Nadu is set to be conducted in the First Phase on April 19^th, 2024 and the counting is to take place on June 4^th, 2024 after completing the polling in seven phases.

The petitioner argued that the long gap violated fundamental rights under Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and was also against the spirit of the Representation of People Act. It was submitted that the public could not be kept under the radar for such a long time and suggested that the vote counting also be conducted in phases.

The court, however, made it clear that it could not issue any such direction to the ECI. The court observed that the ECI had fixed the dates based on its wisdom and had a heavy responsibility to conduct the election in a free and fair manner. The court added that the ECI had to consider various factors such as security, deployment of staff, staff training, etc and thus it was not for the court to interfere with the election program.

Thus, finding no merits in the plea, the court dismissed the same.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Ms.A.Rajini

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr.C.Kathiravan Special Government Pleader

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 138

Case Title: Ezhilan v The Chief Election Commissioner

Case No: W.P.(MD).No.7236 of 2024