CHENNAI: The second phase of elections to rural local bodies for 46,639 posts in 27 districts began at 7 a.m. on Monday and brisk polling is going on. Already, the first phase of elections was held on December 27 in which 76.19 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise.
The number of voters who are eligible to exercise their franchise today is 1.28 crore and polling is going on in 25,008 booths.
According to the verdict of the Supreme Court, elections in the local bodies in 9 districts are not happening now. The SC ordered delimitation exercise should be completed in these districts - Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Thirupathur, Ranipet, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi, within three months.
A couple of days ago, Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture, K Pandiarajan said the elections for urban local bodies would be notified after the completion of the State Assembly session which begins on January 6.
Meanwhile, Madras High Court is hearing a batch of petitions from DMK and its allies seeking directions to the SEC to provide sufficient protection to the ballot boxes till January 2 when counting is taking place.
The High Court is also hearing another important petition from the Satta Panchayat Iyakkam (SPI) seeking directions to SEC for deferring the announcement of the results of the two phases of the RLBs elections until the completion of elections in urban local bodies.
The SPI contended that though elections to Lok Sabha and State Assemblies are held in many phases, the results are announced in one day, since announcing results for each phase would be influencing the voters of the rest of the areas where elections are due. A similar method should be adopted for the current elections to local bodies in Tamil Nadu too, the SPI argued.
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