On Day One, only a few file nominations

However, the usual fervour was missing as the DMK and the alliance partners of the AIADMK mostly stayed away from the nomination works as the seat-sharing talks are yet to be finalised. AMMK which has got the Election Commission’s recognition as a political party will now contest in a common symbol. Party general secretary TTV Dhinakaran had also urged the cadre to work for the victory of the party in the local body polls. BJP leader Pon Radhakrishnan told reporters that the party is holding internal talks with district committee members on whether the BJP should fight the local body polls in an alliance or not. “This is a first of its kind event in the history of Tamil Nadu politics, the nominations for the state rural local bodies have started even before the seat-sharing and alliance strategies have been finalised by the political parties,” said an AIADMK MLA adding that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam are keen on contesting the civic polls, but a section of Ministers fearing poll expenses are not eager to face the local body elections.

“During the previous elections, the AMMK fought as an independent and now AMMK is a registered party. The party has already tasted victory in RK Nagar and will now gain inroads into the rural area through local body polls,” said S Venkatesh, an AMMK ward secretary gearing up for the civic polls.

It may be noted that Dhinakaran won the RK Nagar bypolls under the pressure cooker symbol last year as an independent, which became vacant after the demise of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The AMMK also faced a rout in the subsequent Lok Sabha and recent bypolls after contesting in the common gift box symbol.

Meanwhile in the districts, filing of nominations for the ensuing local body polls was lackluster on the first day with only a few being filed on Monday.

While no nominations were filed for any of the 34 district panchayat wards in Tiruvannamalai district, only 1 nomination was filed for the 341 panchayat union wards. Similarly, only 37 nominations were filed for the 860 posts of village panchayat presidents up for grabs.  The 6,207 posts for village panchayat ward members saw only 134 nominations being filed across the district. The poor turnout in filing nominations was attributed to the ongoing Karthigai Deepam festivities, according to officials. Thepace is expected to pick upfrom Tuesday.

In Tiruchy, the District Election officer and Collector inspected the unions where the elections are to be held on phase one and ensured the assistant returning officers have been collecting the papers as per the norms and as many as 127 nominations were received on the day one. collector S Sivarasu who inspected the places where the nominations were received, asked the officials to ensure the basic amenities and the strong rooms where the ballot papers would be kept safe soon after the polls.