CHENNAI: The State government on Monday indicated that elections to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu can be held only after April due to the forthcoming examinations to SSLC and Plus Two courses, valuation of which would last till April. Majority of personnel for election works are drawn from among the teachers.
This assumes significance as the hearing on a case filed by the State Election Commission (SEC) is coming up for hearing before the Madras High Court on Tuesday.
On January 28, a division bench asked the SEC about the time required for conducting local body elections. The SEC’s counsel said the commission was ready to conduct the elections by April. When the judges objected to this asking why such a long time was needed, the counsel said he would get back to the court after getting instructions from the authorities.
While the State government did not say this directly in the bill tabled by Municipal Administration Minister SP Velumani that replaced the Ordinance promulgated last month for extending the term of special officers for the local bodies till June this year, examinations were cited as one of the reasons for extending the term of special officers.
The DMK and its allies Congress and IUML opposed the two Bills introduced for replacing the Ordinances promulgated for extending the term of special officers of local bodies and Chennai Corporation, at the introductory stage itself.
The bill said the State Election Commission’s current electoral roll of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly would be the basis for panchayat electoral roll under Rule 14 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Election) Rules, 1995. On the receipt of the rolls this month, the SEC would be in a position to prepare the corresponding panchayat electoral rolls.
Further, the examinations for the students of SSLC and Plus Two courses would be held between March 2 and middle of April and hence the teaching staff cannot be deployed for the election duties. Besides, most of the school premises, used as polling stations, would be available only after the examinations and valuation of answer-sheets are over.
“Hence, the SEC has requested the State government to make appropriate arrangements for administering the affairs of the rural local bodies beyond December 31, 2016 and thus, the Ordinance was promulgated extending the term of special officers till June 30 or until the first meeting of the council is held after the ordinary elections to the local bodies, whichever is earlier,” the bill added.
Elections to the local bodies were earlier scheduled for October 17 and 19 last year, but the notifications issued by the SEC were struck down by the Madras High Court on a plea filed by the DMK that due reservation policies were not followed in respect to the ST community. The court had also directed the SEC to issue a fresh notifications and complete the election process by the end of the December last.