Minister moves HC over counting of votes

He sought several directions to the EC

Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar, who has contested from Karur Assembly constituency, has moved the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to follow a slew of measures aimed at ensuring fairness in the counting of votes on May 2. Since as many as 77 candidates had contested in his constituency, the Minister insisted upon proper display and tallying of votes. The case filed by the Minister has been listed for admission before the first Division Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on Monday. In his affidavit, he pointed out that too many counting agents would be present at the counting centre since the number of candidates were too high. He claimed that it would take more than 20 hours to count the votes in 25 rounds. Pointing out that the State government had imposed several restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including a complete lockdown on Sundays, Mr. Vijayabhaskar said the Chief Electoral Officer had nevertheless said that the lockdown would not apply on the day of counting despite it falling on a Sunday. Therefore, he insisted on following a series of measures to be followed at the counting centre. The Minister wanted the counting agents of recognised political parties to be seated on the front table in the counting halls, the votes polled by each candidate to be displayed, announced and tallied clearly during every round and not to begin the next round without the consent of all agents. He insisted on installing more closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the counting centre and ensuring maximum surveillance.