VELLORE/TIRUPATHUR: Residents of Amundi and Thattaparai village panchayats in Vellore district have boycotted local body polls for the second time in a row over the reservation of posts. Though the deadline for filing nominations for the village panchayat president and ward member posts is Monday, no papers have been filed yet.
While in Ammoondi, in Katpadi block, the post of village panchayat president is reserved for an SC woman, villagers say no SC member lives in their hamlet, and want the post to be reserved for the general category. In a petition filed last year, the locals said their villages have only 14 SC voters of which three are women and only one resides there. Similarly, in Thattaparai village panchayat, in Gudiyatham block, the president post is reserved for an ST woman, and locals want it reserved for the general category. Only one ST woman lives there and she is married to a man from another caste, villagers said.
Rural local body polls for 2,478 posts were held in Vellore in October 2021. Nominations were not filed for panchayat president posts in Ammoondi and Thattaparai and 12 ward member posts, including nine from Amundi, and one post each from Kandipedu, Poighai and Karkoor village panchayats.
The State Election Commission, meanwhile, announced polls for posts that fell vacant, on July 9. In Nayakaneri village panchayat in Tirupatur district, people are boycotting polls as panchayat president post is reserved for SC. Locals said the SC population is negligible.