Contempt plea filed in Madras HC against CEC, TN CEO

A contempt petition has been filed in Madras High Court against Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath and Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar accusing them of "wilful failure" to provide disabled friendly facilities for voters during Lok Sabha polls on April 24 in the state as assured before the court in a PIL.
Petitioner S Muthukumar submitted that on April 24, when all the 39 Parliamentary constituencies in Tamil Nadu went for polls, there were no ramps and disabled persons made to wait in queues contrary to the Election Commission's (EC) assurance to the high court.
Muthukumar, who suffers from 40 per cent disability, had filed a PIL in the court before the elections stating that special measures such as no queues, ramps and assistance in casting their votes would help the disabled to exercise their franchise in a dignified manner.

On April 2, senior counsel for the EC gave an assurance to the court that proper instructions with regard to the facilities that shall be made available to the disabled persons enabling them to vote had already been issued to all electoral officers in all states and union territories, and that the authorities would strictly implement them.
Recording the assurance given on behalf of the commission, the court had closed the PIL.
In his present petition, Muthukumar said that on April 24 he personally visited several polling booths in Madurai and found that most of them did not have ramps.

He said he had taken photographs of the pathetic conditions available for disabled voters. The next day, several newspapers carried photographs showing disabled voters even crawling or waiting in the hot sun to cast their votes.

"Deliberate non-implementation of court orders is a clear case of contempt", Muthukumar said, adding that the inaction of the commission had insulted and hurt the sentiments of the entire disabled community.
Alleging that the Election Commission and its top brass had wantonly disobeyed court orders, he sent a contempt notice to the Chief Election Commissioner and the Chief Electoral Officer on May 3, but there has been no response, he said, seeking to punish them for contempt of court.

A vacation bench will hear the contempt petition tomorrow.