The Tamil Nadu Election Commission on Monday, 13 September, announced that polls for rural civic bodies in nine newly reconstituted districts will be held on 6 and 9 October.
The state Election Commissioner, V Palanikumar, made the announcement on Monday evening and said that polls will be held in two phases in the nine districts, namely Chengalpattu, Kallakurichi, Ranipet, Villupuram, Vellore, Kancheepuram, Tenkasi, Tirunelveli, and Tirupathur. The voting will take place on 6 and 9 October between 7 am and 6 pm.
According to the report from the Election Commission, nomination filing will begin on 15 September and conclude on 22 September. Further, on 23 September, nomination scrutiny will be held. And 25 September will be the last date to withdraw nomination.
Furthermore, the Election Commission announced that the counting of votes at the nine districts will be held on 12 October, while the elected representatives can sit for the first meeting on 20 October.
The election code of conduct is currently in effect in the nine districts, and is expected to remain in place till 16 October.
The Election Commission also urged the state Health Department to ramp up COVID-19 vaccination in the nine districts as possibility of public gathering will be high on polling days.
Notably, local body elections for the other 27 districts were held in December 2019, before the pandemic. In the 2019 rural body polls that were held after a span of eight years, DMK and its alliance parties secured a huge victory.
DMK, which hadn’t been in power for the last ten years until May 2021 secured a win in 63 gram panchayats, while AIADMK managed to bag seats in 56 panchayats.
(Published in an arrangement with The News Minute)
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