Paper works commence for local body polls

Highly placed official sources told DT Next that since the matter has reached the Supreme Court any further delay will only bring uneasiness and embarrassment for the AIADMK government. “The elections are likely to be held between August to October this year,” an official said, requesting anonymity.

According to sources, the AIADMK leaders seem to have come to a consensus that they would face the civic polls irrespective of the outcome of the result.

“A section of AIADMK functionaries had urged the party leadership to conduct the civic polls to ensure that the party gets a few local body representatives. We are confident of winning around half a dozen seats in the Assembly bypolls and the government led by CM Edappadi K Palaniswami will continue for the next two years,” said an AIADMK MLA.

“More than 12 mayor posts and thousands of local body posts are vacant since October 2016. Every party needs local body representatives to strengthen itself,” said Poonga Nagar Selvam, an AIADMK functionary with MGR Mandram.

The State Election Commission, vested with the job of conducting civic polls, had been mostly inactive due to the situation. In fact, the commission’s last three major press releases were issued for Republic Day, Voters’ Day and Independence Day. In 2017, the SEC conducted a poll arrangement meeting with district collectors on conducting local body polls, but nothing major had come out of it.