SC postpones local body polls in 9 Tamil Nadu districts by four months

The Supreme Court was hearing DMK’s petition seeking that the local body polls be postponed till the delimitation process is completed in nine districts.
SC postpones local body polls in 9 Tamil Nadu districts by four months
SC postpones local body polls in 9 Tamil Nadu districts by four months
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The Supreme Court on Friday postponed by four months the local body elections in the nine districts — Kallakurichi, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Tirupattur, Ranipet, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli and Vellore — over pending delimitation.

The State Election Commission (SEC) of Tamil Nadu has been directed to conduct local body polls across the state except in these nine districts. The SEC will be issuing a fresh notification for local body polls soon.

The order came on Friday on a plea filed by the DMK seeking postponement of local body polls till the completion of delimitation and reservation of seats in nine districts. The state government had created five new districts from four big districts — Kallakurichi, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Tirunelveli, Tirupattur, Ranipet and Vellore — and the delimitation of wards has not been conducted in these districts so far. The DMK had also stated that people living in these districts might be confused regarding their wards due to the creation of new districts.

The Supreme Court heard the plea on Thursday raised questions about the delimitation process in the newly-formed districts and asked how can the state government claim that it will not be confusing for voters living in these districts. While the state government submitted that if necessary, local body polls be stayed in the nine districts, the DMK stated that the local body polls be postponed for the entire state to avoid confusion. The SC then asked SEC if it is possible to postpone local body polls in the nine districts alone, to which the SEC answered in the positive.

Recording the observation, the Supreme Court had reserved its verdict on the case. On Friday, the court also gave the SEC four months’ time to complete delimitation of the nine districts and conduct local body polls to those districts as well.

The SEC had, a few days ago, announced local body polls for rural local bodies after a delay of three years. The polls, as per the announcement, were scheduled to be held in two phases on December 27 and December 30.  However, the State Election Commissioner R Palaniswamy stated that the dates for polling to Urban local bodies will be announced later. 

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