The Madras High Court asked the poll body about the current status of the cases it has filed (File)
The Madras High Court in a significant development directed the Election Commission (EC) to provide detailed information on cases filed during the 2019 Lok Sabha and the 2021 Tamil Nadu elections.
The court expressed concerns over the seemingly superficial nature of the cases registered, noting that they appeared to be for statistical purposes only, with little to no prosecution taking place.
This comes in response to a petitioner who, accused of bribing voters in 2011, sought to have the case quashed due to the final reports being filed only after a decade.
The poll body has so far seized a staggering amount of Rs 4,650 crore in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This is at least Rs 1,000 crore more than the seizure in the run-up to the 2019 polls.
The court also asked for information about convictions and the current status of the cases.
In addition to directing the EC, the court called upon the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to state their procedures for follow-ups on such cases.