Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner holds meeting for officials of five districts

R. Palanisamy has directed officials deputed for election duty to strictly adhere to guidelines, ahead of the local body polls

State Election Commissioner R. Palanisamy on Friday directed officials deputed for election duty to strictly adhere to the guidelines of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (SEC) on poll-related norms and to ensure that the forthcoming local body elections were held in a free and fair manner.

Chairing a meeting to discuss the preparations for the conduct of elections in rural and urban local bodies with District Election Officers and Collectors of Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri at the Villupuram Collectorate, he said that all arrangements had been made to ensure the successful conduct of the elections.

Elections are to be held for as many as 12,820 wards in 15 corporations, 121 municipalities and 528 town panchayats in urban local bodies. In addition, as many as 12,524 panchayat presidents and as many as 1,06,450 ward members in rural local bodies are to be elected.

Mr. Palanisamy said Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers had been trained on the detailed guidelines, duties and responsibilities. Officials should familiarise themselves with the rules for the conduct of elections.

The polling officials should also inspect critical and vulnerable polling booths and review the security arrangements in these booths in coordination with police officials, he added.

State Election Commission secretary L. Subramanian asked officials to make available all necessary infrastructure and basic facilities, including drinking water, toilets and electricity in the polling stations. Officials should also check forms, documents and ballot boxes kept in the strong rooms.

Mr. Subramanian also asked officials to be prepared about the requirements of additional ballot boxes, electronic voting machines and other stationery items during the elections. The SEC will send additional ballot boxes and voting machines to the districts based on their requirement, he said.

District Collectors A. Annadurai (Villupuram), Kiran Gurralla (Kallakurichi), V. Anbuselvan (Cuddalore), K.S. Kandasamy (Tiruvannamalai) and S. Prabhakar (Krishnagiri) participated.