The State Election Commission (SEC)'s suggestion of relaxing the rule on the cut-off date for the inclusion of names in electoral rolls has not been found acceptable by the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
The suggestion has been made by the Commission as the body is using electoral rolls prepared by the Election Commission for the polls to local bodies.
State Election Commissioner S. Ayyar told The Hindu on Tuesday that as per the rule for the local bodies' elections, applications could be given till the last date of filing of nominations. In the context of the local bodies' polls, September 29 would be the last date. But, the office of Chief Electoral Officer intimated the SEC that keeping in view the period required for verification of applications for the inclusion of names, seven days prior to the last date would be taken as the cut-off date.
“This stipulation may be relevant in the case of Parliamentary or Assembly constituencies. But, in respect of wards of local bodies, it need not be insisted as the wards are smaller in size,” Dr. Ayyar said.
But, the CEO Praveen Kumar responded that “the Election Commission cannot relax the stipulation, which is a legal provision as mentioned in the Representation of the People Act.” Before including the name of any person, the official concerned had to give a seven-day notice for objections.
Representatives of different parties, at a meeting chaired by Dr. Ayyar at his office for recognised parties, wanted the SEC to take up with the Election Commission the issue of postponement of the day of counting of votes for the Tiruchi West Assembly by-election, slated for October 13, as the local bodies' polls would be held on October 17 and 19.
As per the Assembly by-election notification, October 19 would be the day of counting. Dr. Ayyar said the SEC would write to the ECI in this regard.
He added that the authorities concerned had been advised to set up grievance redress centres at the level of panchayat unions, districts, town panchayats, municipalities and municipal corporations to deal with complaints from voters.
In the case of municipal corporations, three or four such centres should be opened in each local body. The centres would function throughout the day.
Dr. Ayyar said that the last three general elections to the local bodies were held in two phases.
K. Balakrishnan, Communist Party of India (Marxist), told reporters after attending the meeting that his party had strongly put forth its point that the polls should be conducted in a free and fair manner. Violation of the model code of conduct should be seriously viewed. K. Balasubramanian, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee general secretary, wanted the extension of the duration of campaign in villages beyond 10 p.m., an issue which, according to Dr. Ayyar, would be examined. R. S. Bharathi, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam legal wing secretary, deplored the State government's transfer of Indian Administrative Service officers and police officials. J.C. Ravindran, State secretary of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), wanted adequate protection to be given to leaders during the poll campaigning.
G.K. Mani, PMK president, wanted the details on counting centres and the venues of strong rooms for electronic voting machines and ballot boxes to be made public.
Among those who attended the meeting were O. Paneerselvam and K. A. Sengottaiyan, M.V. Subramanian, national secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party, and S. M. Mohanrajulu, State general secretary of the BJP.
