Chennai, March 17 The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed petitions challenging certain conditions in the e-tender dated March 3, 2026, for live webcasting in polling stations and recording during vote counting for the Tamil Nadu Assembly election.
The petitions were filed by two private surveillance service companies based in New Delhi and Chennai, respectively, challenging the tender conditions imposed by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for installing approximately 1,50,000 web-based cameras across 75,000 polling stations and 3,744 cameras in counting centers.
"In this case, the primary challenge is to the aforementioned tender conditions on the grounds that they are arbitrary, discriminatory, and unreasonable," said the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan.
Considering the averments in light of the submissions made by senior counsel for the petitioner, the court found "no evidence to prove arbitrariness, malafide, or bias that would warrant judicial intervention," the bench noted.
Moreover, the court was aware of the ruling of the Supreme Court that the tender floating authority is empowered to stipulate certain preconditions or qualifications to ensure that the contractor has the capacity and resources to successfully execute the work.
"This court believes that the conditions of the tender cannot be altered/modified to suit the petitioner, as the authority responsible for framing the terms and conditions of the tender is the best person to do so, as they have the necessary technical and administrative expertise," the bench said, dismissing the petitions.
Consequently, the interim applications have been closed.