DMK, PMK move HC seeking repolling in 239 booths

CHENNAI: DMK Tuesday moved the Madras High Court

seeking repoll in 239 booths in the city alleging

irregularities in the polling held in the first phase of local

body elections while an individual filed a contempt petition

on grounds that authorities violated the court orders on

videographing the polling process.Chennai Mayor M.Subramanian of DMK in his petition also

sought a direction to State Election Commission authorities to

count the votes polled for the posts of Mayor and Councillors

simultaneously and cancel the elections to the other local

bodies held Monday.PMK Mayoral candidate A K Moorthy also filed a separate

petition with similar prayers.In the contempt petition, city advocate G Poonkunran

alleged that SEC S Ayyar and Corporation Commissioner D

Karthikeyan had 'purposely avoided' installing video cameras

in all polling booths in the city corporation elections as

ordered by the bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and

Justice T S Sivagnanam on October 14.They had wantonly failed to draw any plan of action and

neglected to implement the court's orders in true letter and

spirit, he contended.He also alleged that sufficient number of police personnel

from ther states and the CRPF were not requisitioned.The DMK petition alleged "the authorities were not afraid

of the court orders, but willingly obeyed their political

masters."Alleging that 239 booths were captured by AIADMK men, it

said unless repolling was conducted in them, elections would

be a mere farce.PMK's Moorthy submitted that the SEC was directed to

videograph polling in all the booths in addition to webcasting

elections in the city. None of the directions of the high

court was complied with by the SEC, he alleged.Counsel for the petitioners, made a mention before the

First Bench. The matter is likely to come up for hearing

tomorrow.