Madras High Court rejects PIL seeking special polling for missing names

Chennai, April 30 (IANS) Madras High Court disposed of a PIL seeking special polling in the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency for those who could not cast their votes on April 19 as their names were rescinded from the voter list.

The First Division Bench of Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjay V. Gangapurwala and Justice G. Chandrasekharan on Tuesday disposed of the PIL filed by R. Suthanthira Kanna, an Australia-based doctor.

The court observed that no orders could be passed when the petitioner had failed to check the draft and final electoral lists.

The standing counsel for the Election Commission, Niranjan Rajagopalan, informed the court that the final electoral list was published in January 2024 but the petitioner had not raised any objection to his name missing from the electoral list.

Niranjan Rajagopalan also told the court that the petitioner's name was removed from the voter list for the 2021 Assembly elections.

The judges on hearing the response by the Election Commission rejected the petition.

The BJP's Tamil Nadu chief, K. Annamalai, who was also the party candidate for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha seat, had said immediately after the polls that one lakh names were missing from the voters' list and had added that these were voters who regularly exercise their franchise for the BJP.