Local body polls in Chennai to be held after three years on Dec 27, Dec 30

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Local body polls in Chennai to be held after three years on Dec 27, Dec 30
Local body polls in Chennai to be held after three years on Dec 27, Dec 30

Chennai : After a long delay of three years, the state Election Commission has finally announced the date of the rural body elections in Tamil Nadu. The polls will be done in two phases – December 27 and December 30.

The poll dates for urban local bodies, however, will be announced later, said Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner R Palaniswamy, citing administrative reasons.  

According to the announcement, the counting of votes will be done on January 2. The EC also announced that the first representatives’ meeting will be held on January 6.

The nomination process for the elections will begin from December 6 and it will conclude by December 13.

However, the DMK, the main opposition party in the state, moved the Supreme Court in November, asking the government to carry out a delimitation exercise in view of wards in newly-created districts in the state (Tenkasi, Kallakurichi, Tirupattur, Ranipet and Chengalpet). The party has expressed concerns about confusion in the conduct of polls even as the Chief Minister has said that the creation of these new districts had no bearing as polls will take place per last year's reclassification of wards.

The local body polls in Tamil Nadu were last held in October 2016 and were initially stayed by the Supreme Court after the DMK filed a plea to postpone the polls until reservation and delimitation of wards are completed.