Election Commission asked to respond to pleas on postal ballots

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday refused to stay a batch of petitions moved challenging the Election Commission  of India’s (ECI) notification granting permission to voters above 80 years of age and differently-abled to opt for postal ballots. The court also directed the ECI to respond to the plea moved by the petitioners including the DMK.

According to the petitioners, on September 22, the ECI came out with an order allowing postal ballots for aged people. However, the DMK, in its plea, raised contentions that it will lead to corruption with the distribution of cash among voters and also other malpractices. 

According to the petitioners including the DMK, “Since the impugned rules do not prescribe any method of age verification, many voters are likely to claim themselves to be 65 years and for that matter 80 years of age and register for postal ballots thereby leading to large scale tampering of votes,” Wilson told the court while seeking to stay the impugned notification.

The first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and  Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy recording the submissions made by the counsels directed the ECI to file a detailed report on the plea in four weeks.