Tamil Nadu to go to polls again in 7 months, this time for rural local bodies

CHENNAI: Voters of rural Tamil Nadu may well gear up for another round of elections in the months to come. Rural local body elections are due in December 2024 in at least 28 districts, and going by DMK sources, Chief Minister MK Stalin was understood to have asked the district secretaries who called on him after the April 19 Lok Sabha elections to prepare for the same.

About nine districts, Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi faced rural local body elections much later in 2022 owing to the delimitation exercise that was delayed due to the division of the revenue districts by the state government for administrative convenience then.

However, the opinion seems to be divided at the lower level vis-à-vis the panchayat elections. Some district bosses were said to be of the view that it would suffice to appoint special officers for the rural local bodies for the remainder of the state government's term like the previous AIADMK regime did and defer the rural body polls.

However, the Chief Minister was learnt to have insisted that the local body polls must be held when they are due. Sources with knowledge of the issue disclosed that the DMK high command was not averse to dissolving the rural local body councils in the nine districts and holding the elections simultaneously for all the districts before January 5, 2025, the deadline for the completion of the rural civic elections in the 28 districts.

According to informed government sources, the State Election Commission (SEC), which conducts the civic elections, has the authority to begin the preparations for the civic elections six months before the cut-off date (January 5, 2025). The SEC, which does not have the authority to prepare the electoral rolls on its own, could commence the election process with the 'compilation' of ward-wise voter lists based on the electoral roll received from the Election Commission of India (ECI), in the instant case the Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu.

The state commission is expected to start the ward-wise voter list compilation for the rural local bodies after the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) in place for the Parliamentary polls ends on June 4. Going by the past elections, 20 days (from the date of filing of nominations to the date of counting) was all that the SEC would require to conduct the civic polls. Understandably, officials of the SEC refused to comment on the issue citing MCC.Voters of rural Tamil Nadu may well gear up for another round of elections in the months to come. Rural local body elections are due in December 2024 in at least 28 districts, and going by DMK sources, Chief Minister MK Stalin was understood to have asked the district secretaries who called on him after the April 19 Lok Sabha elections to prepare for the same.