Madras High Court Issues Notice On Plea Alleging Poor Postal Ballot Implementation, Lack Of Transport Facility In TN Assembly Polls

A plea has been filed in the Madras High Court alleging poor implementation of the postal ballot facility and the lack of adequate transport services during the 2026 Tamil Nadu assembly elections which were held on April.The plea seeks direction to the authorities to ensure complete adherence of postal ballot voting of all voters either on election duty or otherwise unable to cast their vote. It may be noted that the results of the elections were declared on May 4, with Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) receiving the highest votes. The vacation bench of Justice S Sounthar and Justice PB Balaji has issued notice to the Chief Election Commissioner, State Election Commissioner, Tamil Nadu, TN Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary (Transport Department), Director General of Police, Transport Commissioner, Additional Transport Commissioner (Revenue/Enforcement Department), and the Vigilance Commissioner and adjourned the plea to June. The petition, filed by Devadoss Gandhi Wilson, a resident of Chennai, states that there was a decline in the number of postal ballots during the 2026 elections. He pointed out that Government employees involved in the election and other essential services, who could not travel to their hometown to cast their vote, had not been able to utilise the postal ballot facility optimally. Citing a press statement given by the State Election Officer to a Tamil newspaper, the petitioner stated that in Chennai alone, only 32,447 postal votes out of a total of 52,047 votes were polled, and a balance of 17,000 postal votes remained uncast. It was also pointed out that in the Ambattur constituency alone, approximately 1700 election officers had held protests stating that they had not been given postal ballot papers in time. The petitioner also pointed out that there was a non-availability of government buses during the peak election time, especially on the eve and on the polling day, because of which a lot of voters could not reach their hometowns and polling booths to cast their votes. The petitioner also highlighted that there was a failure on the part of the central government, which failed to increase special trains in view of the rush during election time. The petitioner thus stated that it was the duty of the Election Commission and the State authorities to ensure that no voter is left behind but the same was not done in Tamil Nadu. The petitioner also submitted that he had sent representation to the Election Commission to ensure that the citizen's are able to cast their votes through postal ballots before the counting of the votes, and to appoint a commission to enquire into gross lapses, including poor administration by the state authorities in plying adequate outstation buses. The present petition is thus filed seeking direction the authorities to consider his representation and enable complete adherence of postal ballot voting of all voters either on election duty or otherwise unable to cast their voting rights and thus compliance of section 18A and other related sections of the Representation of People's Act 1950. Case Title: S Devadoss Gandhi Wilson v The Chief Election Commissioner and Others Case No: WP 18318 of 2026

Madras High Court Issues Notice On Plea Alleging Poor Postal Ballot Implementation, Lack Of Transport Facility In TN Assembly Polls

Upasana Sajeev

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Madras High Court Issues Notice On Plea Alleging Poor Postal Ballot Implementation, Lack Of Transport Facility In TN Assembly Polls

Upasana Sajeev

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