Chennai
A day after notifying the extension in poll timings, the Tamil Nadu state election commission on Saturday announced that an all-party meeting will be held on Monday to discuss the modalities related to the conduct of rural local body polls. The conduct of polls in nine districts was deferred last year due to the delimitation exercise.
A press release from the state election commission said that the political party meeting has been scheduled at the TNSEC headquarters in Koyambedu from Monday noon onwards.
The objective of the meeting is to listen to the stakeholders like political parties, district administrators on the conduct of polls. Further other issues like the increase in corona positive cases due to religious gatherings and schools are other factors that will be ascertained over the coming days. Besides the political party views, the views of district collectors will be heard to decide the next course of action. However the works in connection with the polls to urban local bodies covering municipal corporations and municipalities are on a slow track, official sources said.
Meanwhile political aspirants and members of residents welfare association demand early conduct of polls to municipal councillors and mayors. “The councillors play a crucial role in bridging the gap between the public and the official and the public cannot rely on the MLAs and ministers for their ward level issues,” said Balagangadar Thilak, a staunch supporter of Sasikala. We are waiting for the civic polls and there are independent aspirants in Maduravoyal awaiting for the Chennai corporation polls, Thilak added.
The state should hold the civic polls before the onset of monsoon and the Election commission has already completed the state assembly polls amidst the corona wave. Safety precautions should be taken and the polls to municipalities should be conducted at the earliest, said Arani Sreenivasan, a civic activist. Corrupt councillors may bring a bad reputation to their parties, but there are a few who help the public to sort out their civic issues during floods and monsoon.
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