State Election Commissioner S. Ayyar on Sunday appealed to voters across the State to exercise their franchise in the local body elections on Monday without fail and said steps had been taken to ensure the conduct of polls in a fair, free, open, honest and peaceful manner.
In a press release, he also urged the election officers/employees to work fairly and without fear. In case of trouble, they were asked to inform the State Election Commission accordingly.
Polling will commence on Monday at 7 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. In the first phase, election will be held in 10 corporations.
About 1.38 crore voters in urban local bodies and 1.32 lakh voters in rural areas are likely to cast their franchise. There are about 17,690 polling booths in the urban areas and 30,681 in rural areas.
As all the polling booths in Chennai have been declared as sensitive, video graphing of polling will be done to ensure that voters can exercise their franchise freely.
Electorate can cast their votes by producing the voters' identity card, booth slips or one of the documents listed by the Election Commission.
He also sought the co-operation of political parties, candidates and the public for conduct of the elections in a peaceful manner.
Mr. Ayyar said all those engaged in election work should work fairly and honestly, without any bias.
He asked all the District Election Officers/District Collectors to take severe action against those who failed to do so.
