Kolkata, Apr 30: Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy today declined to comment on the Patna High Court's direction to the Election Commission to consider countermanding the polls in constituencies from where prisoners had entered the fray. ''We have not received any copy of the High Court judgement and I don't want to make any comment on it,'' Krishnamurthy told reporters at Raj Bhavan here.
The CEC, however, said that EC would be happy if 'criminal elements' were barred from contesting elections.
''We have to see the direction of the High Court and we will take appropriate action,'' he said. A division bench of the Patna High Court comprising chief Justice Ravi S Dhawan and Justice Shashank Kumar Singh passed the order on two PILs during the day seeking disqualification of those who had entered the poll fray from jail and whose voting rights were suspended by election laws.
The bench also ordered the Commission to consider countermanding elections in the constituencies where proclaimed absconders had cast their vote.
'The EC should act and act with speed and take a decision on these issues before declaration of results of the polls,” the bench observed.
Bureau Report