HC directs EC to decide on polling date for Arvakurichi,

The Madras High Court today directed the Election Commission of India to take a decision by May 27 on the polling date for Aravakurichi and Thanjavur assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
Originally scheduled to be held on May 16 along with other constituencies, polling for the two segments was deferred to May 23 due to allegations of rampant bribing of voters by candidates and political parties. Later, the polling date was further postponed to June 13.
DMK organisation secretary R S Bharathi filed a writ petition assailing EC's decision and prayed that the polling be held on May 23.
A special sitting of the Court took up the plea in this morning.

Election Commission's counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan said that the date indicated in the notification (June 13) was not conclusive and that the Commission could fix the date according to circumstances.
When he sought time till June 1 to submit the Commission's response to the writ petition, the court directed the counsel to get instructions by evening.

After hearing both sides, the bench said it would expect a decision by May 27.
A vacation bench, comprising Justice K Kalyanasundaram and Justice R Mahadevan, said "since the Election Commission invited objections, it has to be considered without causing any undue delay."
Bharathi filed the petition seeking to quash the

notification issued by EC with regard to polling in Aravakkurichi and Thanjavur assembly segments and consequently conduct the election on May 23 itself.
Earlier, senior advocate R Shanmugasundaram, appearing for Bharathi, argued that two relevant factors had not been considered by EC while deciding to further defer polling to June 13.
He said Ramzan fasting by Muslims would commence on June 6 and continue till July 5 and during the period women in the community would not venture out for other purposes. Aravakurichi has about 20 per cent Muslim population, he said.
Secondly, the biennial elections for six vacant Rajya Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu have already been announced and nominations are to be filed from May 24.

The last date for filing nomination is May 31, Shanmugasundaram said, adding the two MLAs from Aravakurichi and Thanjavur would lose their valuable right to participate in the Rajya Sabha polls unless they are elected before the polling date.
In his petition, Bharathi had submitted that the decision of EC was arbitrary and raised grave suspicion in people's mind as no political party or general public had been consulted while deciding June 13 as the new polling date.
Also, the date of counting has not been announced, he said, pointing out that EC had said it would be decided later.

He said DMK had already sent a representation to EC raising "strong objection to the inconsistent and arbitrary decisions" taken by the Commission without consulting political parties that had fielded candidates.