Ripon Buildings readies for Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa arrival

Chennai: The historic Ripon Buildings, seat of the Chennai corporation, is gearing up for Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa’s visit to file her nomination for the bypoll from R.K. Nagar constituency slated for June 27.

In October 2011, she came to the building for the swearing-in of Saidai S. Duraisamy as Chennai mayor. A senior corporation official said the building was now under renovation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The Chief Minister and a battery of state ministers are likely to come to the premises on June 5. Final touches like giving the building a fresh coat of paint had already been completed. Additional furniture, air conditioners, computers and stationery will be added to the new election office. The building is now being checked periodically by police as part of security measures.

Already an election control room to record model code violations and register public complaints is functioning. However, authorities are yet to finalise the clustering of election department sections from where the election cell will start functioning.

“North and Central Chennai cadres are all pepped up as Ms Jayalalithaa is contesting in Chennai and it was a long pending due for us to work for our supremo in the capital city. We are gearing up for the nomination day”, said AIADMK functionary and advocate R. Sridhar.