Anbumani urges Tamil Nadu election commission to announce civic poll schedule

CHENNAI: PMK leader and MP Anbumani Ramadoss on Friday urged the Tamil Nadu state commission to announce the schedule for the upcoming local body elections without delay so that parties will get sufficient time to nominate suitable candidates.
In a statement, Anbumani said direct elections for 1,32,058 seats -- including seats in the city corporation, municipalities, town panchayats, district panchayats and panchayat unions -- have to be completed by October 25 this year.
He alleged that news had leaked of the state election commission’s plans to call for nominations the day after announcing poll dates.
Although the PMK is ready to face the elections at any point, there have been some changes in this year's polls. As the reservation for women has increased to 50% in the upcoming civic body elections, the allotment of wards is likely to change, he said. Unless other parties are made aware of these changes, they cannot nominate suitable candidates for those wards in advance and be ready with their nomination papers.
“With less than a week to go for the announcement of the poll dates, the state election commission is yet to declare the revised list of wards,” he alleged.
He alleged that these details have already been given to the ruling AIADMK, and that the delay in providing this information to the other parties would give them lesser time to finalise their candidates and also to campaign.
He said it was said that the TN Governor was yet to sign the bills for indirect election of mayors by councillors as well for 50% reservation for women in local bodies, even though both had been passed in the Tamil Nadu assembly. In such a scenario, the civic polls should be conducted like in the past, which might cause confusion, he said.