EC begins work for civic polls

Chennai: State election commission has begun preliminary works for conducting civic polls to 12 corporations including Greater Chennai corporation and 125 municipalities. According to state election commission sources, back-to-back meetings have been conducted in the SEC headquarters here in Chennai and the district collectors instructed to kickstart poll work.

With the term for the current local body representatives ending by the third week of October, elections are likely to be by the mid of October. In all 1,32,458 posts including that of corporation mayors, municipal chairmen and ward councillors are to be filled and this time more women seats will be reserved for women, an informed source said.

Besides the corporations in 12 cities, polls are also to be conducted for 529 town panchayats and 12, 524 village panchayats across Tamil Nadu. In 2011, polls were conducted in two phases. “We are waiting for a government order. Once the order is issued, state election commission will begin major works like identification of women wards, delimiting the wards with more voters, inclusion of voters in the photo electoral rolls and poll schedule,” an informed official said.     

To a query on whether the state will undergo single or two-phase polls like 2011, SEC sources maintained it would be decided at the time of notification of polls.