Voters’ list: Tamil Nadu poll panel approaches SC

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Election Commission has approached the Supreme Court against the verdict of the division bench of the High Court that barred the poll panel from using the electoral roll of 2015 for the upcoming local body election.

The poll panel’s argument is that it is an independent Constitutional body and is free to decide which voters’ list to use. In its petition before the Supreme Court, the State Election Commission contented that any sort of intervention in its functioning was illegal.

The state poll panel maintains that using the 2019 electoral roll for local body poll was impractical and time consuming. In its petition, the state poll panel points out that preparing a fresh voters’ list on ward basis using the 2019 voters’ list would incur an additional expenditure of `10 crore.

The voters’ list for local body poll was entangled in a legal battle after the UDF approached the High Court against using the 2015 electoral roll. Though a single judge bench upheld the poll panel’s decision to use the 2015 electoral roll, it was turned down by the Division bench following an appeal by the UDF.
According to the State Election Commission, the 2019 electoral roll used in the recent Lok Sabha election has been prepared on the basis of booths in each assembly constituency.