Chennai, Oct 1 (BPNS)

The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) has agreed to continuous video recording of as many polling booths as possible. The submission was made by the Tamil Nadu, Advocate General, S. Shanmugasundaran before the first bench of the Madras High court on Friday.

The first bench of the Madras High Court represented by Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Adikesavalu recorded the submission made by the AG during the hearing of a writ petition filed by the AIADMK for elaborate security measures during the rural local body polls to the nine districts. The polls are to be held on October 6 and October 9 in two phases.

Advocate Vijay Narayan representing the AIADMK argued in the court that the state election commission has decided to record only 20% of the booths by installing CCTV cameras in such booths. The SEC, according to the AIADMK had agreed to record only crucial events. Vijay Narayan insisted that there has to be a 100% recording of the election.

He argued that with the technology available at present, it would not be a major task to ensure 100% recording of the polls. It may be noted that Vijay Narayan was the Advocate General during the tenure of the previous government.

The court also recorded the submission by Advocate General that observers would be appointed at the block level. The AIADMK had argued that observers have to be appointed at the block level instead of appointing an IAS officer at the district level. Vijay Narayan argued that the district-level observer may not be able to cover all the polling booths and hence block-level observers have to be appointed which was agreed upon by the State election commission.

CCTV cameras would also be installed both inside and outside the strong rooms where the ballot boxes would be kept. This was another request of the AIADMK before the court.