HC seeks ECI's stand on time to very candidates' credentials

The Madras High Court has sought the Election Commission's stand on a plea for grant of three months time to it to verify the details given by poll candidates in their nomination papers.

A bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar issued notices on Thursday to both the Election Commission of India and the State Election Commission seeking their stands on the plea made by one S Pathiban.

The petitioner submitted that the Representation of People Act stipulates that candidates filing nomination papers to contest polls should furnish all the details, including the personal ones in the paper.

Despite this, the petitioner said, several candidates in previous elections had suppressed details of cases pending against them and the Election Commission had no time to verify the correctness of the declarations made by the contestants in the nominations.

Hence, the petitioner submitted, a duration of three months time be given to the Election Commission to verify the correctness of the details in the nomination papers.

The petitioner said he had made a representation to the poll panel on the issue raised in his petition, but got no response.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)