Election to the cooperatives in the district kicked off on Friday with the filing of nominations for 268 societies in the first phase of poll.
Election for the cooperative bodies is being conducted after 2007 when it was abruptly called off by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government following violent incidents across the State.
The officials have heaved a sigh of relief after the DMK decided not to fight the elections. Nominations for 2,718 board members of 268 societies were received at the different offices. The final list of candidates in fray would be announced on Saturday after scrutiny of the papers, the District Joint Registrar (Cooperatives), M. Palanivelu, who is the poll observer for the district, said.
He added that 18 per cent of the seats were reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and 30 per cent seats for women. The first phase of election would be held on April 5.
