Civic polls: Thousands of papers found invalid
The State Election Commission which began the scrutiny of 97,831 nominations rejected thousands of nominations for lack of documents and relevant papers. The scrutiny which began across the state at local bodies continued late into the night and the final list of candidates is to be released on Saturday.
The SEC also accepted 2,547 nominations in 28 districts, where the civic polls were conducted last December and the vacancies were reported due to the demise and resignations of ward councillors.
As many as 545 candidates filed nominations for 178 posts in Central districts. In Tiruchy 74 candidates filed their papers for 24 posts, including three union chairman elections, while in Thanjavur 134 candidates filed their papers for 53 posts, including 11 district panchayat councillors. In Nagapattinam 69 filed papers for 18 vacancies, while in Tiruvarur, as many as 111 persons filed papers for 32 posts and in Perambalur as many as 56 filed papers for 18 posts and in Pudukkottai 117 filed papers for 48 seats. The SEC also asked the Collectors who are also the district election officers to ensure that the public does not conduct auctions defeating the purpose of panchayat polls.
The SEC which had also begun the nomination process for civic polls in nine districts had urged the stakeholders, including public, political parties and the officials to ensure free and fair polls on October 6 and 9. The majority of the posts are to be filled through councillors elected in non-political party symbols. The SEC had also made arrangements to release the list of unopposed candidates by next week. Meanwhile, launching his local body polls campaign, AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami interacted with party candidates in Ranipet and Vellore districts. EPS also met the party election managers insisting to ensure victory of party candidates in the upcoming civic polls. The ruling DMK had also informed the Ministers and the district secretaries to work for the success of party candidates.