DMK likely to discuss local body elections today

Though the DMK has not publicly announced the meeting so far, it has been reliably learnt that communication has been sent to all district secretaries for the meeting, a day after the government led by the party passed Bills for extending the tenure of special officers of local bodies. The meeting has been planned in the backdrop of the Supreme Court ordering the state to conduct elections for rural local bodies in nine districts before September.

If sources in the party are to be believed, the ruling DMK is eager to conduct the urban local body polls as soon as the COVID situation improves to an extent that it would be possible to conduct elections by adhering to the protocols. The DMK had won majority of the rural local bodies when the elections were conducted during the fag end of the previous AIADMK regime. The government is believed to be of the opinion that it would be able to better handle an imminent COVID wave if the civic councils were in place