Not possible to change polling date in southern TN: EC to HC

The Election Commission Thursday informed the Madras High Court it was not possible to postpone the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for April 18 in Tamil Nadu, in southern districts of the state, as requested through a PIL.

The petition said the polling date clashed with a famous festival here that draws lakhs of people and hence would affect polling percentage.

When the Public Interest Litigation came up for hearing before the Madurai bench of the high court, the counsel appearing for the State Chief Electoral Officer told Justices N Kirubakaran and S S Sundar the poll duration could be extended by two hours but postponement was not possible.

The bench said it was not convinced by the EC stand and directed the CEO to file a counter affidavit Friday.

The petitioner, advocate Parthasarathy, sought change of polling date in five southern districts, including Madurai, citing the two-week long "Chithirai festival" of the ancient Goddess Meenakshi Amman temple, which runs from April 8 to ...