More than 1,100 candidates filed their papers on the third day of filing of nominations on Wednesday for the local body elections to be held on October 17 and 19 in the two districts.
A total of 583 candidates filed papers to seek election from village panchayats, panchayat wards, town panchayat and district panchayat wards in Ramanathapuram district. A majority of 416 candidates filed their papers to contest from panchayat wards. So far, 799 candidates had filed papers.
In Sivaganga, 581 candidates filed their papers to contest from village, town and district panchayat wards, official sources said. A majority of 500 candidates filed papers to seek election from village panchayat wards and 69 candidates for the village presidents. So far, 813 candidates had filed papers in the district, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Ramanathapuram Collector S. Natarajan and Sivaganga Collector S. Malarvizhi reviewed the security and poll arrangements in their respective districts on Wednesday.
Chairing meeting with Superintendent of Police T. Jayachandran and officials, Ms. Malarvizhi sensitised the officials to the procedures to be followed while scrutinising the nomination papers and allotting symbols to the candidates. She also asked the officials to provide necessary basic facilities at the polling stations. She asked the police and polling officials to identify and prepare the list of sensitive and vulnerable polling stations in the district. A total of 460 polling booths in 12 panchayat unions and 24 in municipality areas had been identified as sensitive, a release said. Mr. Natarajan advised the officials to take into consideration the supplementary electoral roll while scrutinising the nomination papers. The final list of candidates should be prepared in alphabetical order, he said.
On Wednesday, the Collector visited Kadaladi and Mudukulathur Tahsildar offices and inspected the rectification and purification of the electoral roll process. The Collector asked the officials to ensure that the supplementary roll was released before the nominations were taken up for scrutiny.
