CHENNAI: The proposal to merge village panchayats with the newly-created corporations will come into effect only in 2026. The upcoming urban local body elections will be held annexing municipalities and town panchayats with new corporations, official sources have said.
The State government proposed to merge several village panchayats with the new corporations — Tambaram, Kancheepuram, Kumbakonam, Karur, Cuddalore and Sivakasi. The limits of 28 municipalities were also proposed for expansion.
“In the upcoming urban local body elections, only urban areas (municipalities and town panchayats) will be included in the newly-created corporations. After the tenure of existing panchayats ends, the proposed villages will be annexed into respective corporation limits, and will accordingly be converted into urban wards. The same procedure will be followed for expansion of municipalities,” said a senior State government official.
As part of the preparation for the polls, State Election Commissioner V Palanikumar on Tuesday met officials from six districts — Ranipettai, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai and Vellore. The preparation work involves making electoral rolls, identifying polling stations, delimitation of wards in the new corporations and municipalities, and earmarking posts for reserved categories, said officials.
At the meeting, Palanikumar urged the officials to expedite the preparation work in a transparent manner. He also asked police officials assess the sensitive polling booths, and plan for security arrangements. The number of polling stations was increased during the Assembly polls in April to contain the spread of Covid-19. Officials who attended the meeting said there were plans to reduce the number of polling stations, but no decision was taken. On September 27, the Supreme Court ordered that the urban local body elections should be held within four months. The last election to urban local bodies was in 2011.
BJP seeks applications to contest elections
The BJP’s State unit on Wednesday called for applications from aspirants who wish to contest the urban local body elections. Applications may be submitted between November 7 and 15