DRAVIDA MUNNETRA KAZHAGAM Vs. SECRETARY GOVERNORS SECRETARIAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These Interlocutory Applications have been filed seeking directions for compliance with the Constitutional mandate concerning elections to local bodies. The lead applicant, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), is appellant in the Civil Appeal Nos. 54675469 of 2017, wherein an order of the Madras High Court refusing to issue certain directions to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission ("State Election Commission") is under challenge before us. It is also the principal Opposition party in the Legislative Assembly of the State of Tamil Nadu and is a recognised Stateparty.

(2.) In the Civil Appeal DMK claimed that the partyinpower at the State level, the AIADMK, has deliberately been postponing elections; unconstitutionally been altering constituencies and refusing to effect rotation with the object of gaining undue political advantage. They have claimed that Articles 243D and 243T mandated that delimitation of constituencies be conducted after every decadal census and concomitant reservations be effected for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on a 'rotation' basis. In so far as the Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Second Amendment) Act, 2016 allowed the next cycle of local elections in Tamil Nadu to be conducted as per the earlier 2001 Census, it contravened Constitutional provisions and was thus liable to be struck down.

(3.) The aforestated issues have, however, been rendered academic by constitution of a Delimitation Commission under the newly enacted Tamil Nadu Delimitation Commission Act, 2017. This Commission initiated an elaborate exercise of delimitation on 25 th July, 2017 and eventually formulated a draft ward delimitation proposal on 20th September, 2017. Thereafter, written objections were invited from the public, various political parties and organisations between 20th December, 2017 and 18th January, 2018. After considering such objections/suggestions and the revised proposals received from District Delimitation Authorities, the Delimitation Commission sent its final recommendation to the State Government on 31st August, 2018. Thereafter, a notification was issued by the State Government on 14th December, 2018 whereby the wards newly delimited per the 2011 Census figures were notified.