Madras High Court Disposes Plea Seeking Postal Ballot For Students Away From Home, Cites Similar Issue Pending In SC

The Madras High Court on Thursday (16 April) dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to the Chief Election Commissioner and the State Election Commissioner to permit postal ballots for college students studying in various parts of the State, away from their native places. The bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan noted that a similar issue was pending before the Supreme Court of India, in which the court had already issued notice. Thus, noting that the issue in the present petition was identical, the court closed the plea. “Petition seeks direction to allow students away from home to cast votes through postal ballot. A similar issue is already pending before the Supreme Court in WP (Civil) 52 of 2026 Jaya Sudhakar v UOI. On 28/1/26, SC has issued notice, and the matter is still pending. In the aforesaid, issue being identical, we dispose this petition,” the court noted in its order. The petitioner Abdul Vahabudeen, whose son and daughter were studying in Saveetha School of Law, submitted that the children, being first time voters, were excited about exercising their valuable constitutional right. He submitted that though the state has declared holiday on the day of poll, i.e., 23rd April, the students were finding it difficult to travel to their native places to cast their votes. He cited that since the time duration between the election notification and the date of election was very short, the students found it difficult to get reservation of travel tickets. He also added that due to the urgency, the travel operators had hiked their tariff, which was making the students hesitant to travel to their native place for casting votes. He added that since only one day of leave was granted for the students, the travel itself would become hectic, prompting the students to stay at their college itself. The petitioner pointed to Rule 18 of the Conduct of Election Rules which allowed postal ballot by certain categories of persons. He submitted that such benefit should also be made applicable to the college students, allowing them to exercise their constitutional right. When the case was taken up on Thursday, the bench directed the petitioner to make a representation before the Election Commission of India after the elections are over, so that the proposal may be considered for the next elections. The court noted that the relief sought for needed amendment of Rules and such issues could not be decided at the present stage, when the election process had already begun. Noting that a similar issue was already pending before the Supreme Court, the court was not inclined to keep the matter pending and decided to dispose the plea. Counsel for Petitioner: Mr. R.AnandCounsel for Respondent: Mr. Niranjan Rajagopalan Standing Counsel, Mrs. E.Ranganayaki Addl. Government PleaderCase Title: Abdul Vahabudeen v The Chief Election Commissioner Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 165 Case No: WP (MD) No 10095 of 2026Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

Madras High Court Disposes Plea Seeking Postal Ballot For Students Away From Home, Cites Similar Issue Pending In SC

Upasana Sajeev

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