Indirect election to chairperson posts in Vellalore and Annur town panchayats were postponed due to “law and order" issues.
In the Karumathampatty Municipality, DMK councillors denied Congress the opportunity to have its councillor as chairperson.
In Vellalore Town Panchayat, election was postponed after councillors clashed with one another and pushed the ballot box.
Town panchayat executive officer N. Balasubramani said he was forced to postpone the election after councillors clashed with one another within minutes of a councillor filing nomination for the post.
AIADMK councillor U.V. Marudachalam had filed the nomination after being proposed by ward 9 councillor Ganesan and seconded by ward 8 councillor Chandrakumar. Immediately thereafter, the councillors entered into a wordy duel with one another and that led to unruly scenes.
Independent councillor Kanagaraj pushed aside the ballot box that the town panchayat administration had kept for the councillors to cast their votes.
The 15-ward town panchayat has eight AIADMK councillors, six DMK councillors and an Independent.
As the situation was getting out of hand, he was forced to suspend the election, Mr. Balasubramani said and added that he ultimately postponed the election.
Thereafter, he had lodged a complaint with the Podanur Police narrating the happenings inside the election room. Outside the hall too there was unruly scenes as supporters from both the parties were present.
The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission would announce the new date, he added.
In Periyanaickenpalayam Town Panchayat, DMK councillor Viswa Prakash was elected chairman unopposed even as the CPI(M) challenged the election saying due process was not followed.
The DMK had agreed to allot the chairperson post to the CPI(M).
Sources said as the door of the election hall was closed in Periyanaickenpalayam Town Panchayat in the morning, only 12 councillors were present.
In the 18-ward local body. the DMK had won 12 wards, the AIADMK four and CPI(M) two.
After calling for nomination and as only one nomination was filed, the officials declared Mr. Prakash the winner.
The DMK workers, who were present at the town panchayat office did not allow the two CPI(M) councilors to enter the election hall, the party's in-charge for the area S. Krishnamoorthy said.
In the afternoon, the councilors elected CPI(M) councillor Umavathy as vice-chairperson. Mr. Krishnamoorth said the party had not approved of Ms. Umavathy's candidature and would initiate disciplinary action.
In Karumathampatty Municipality, the DMK councillors elected one of their own as chairperson, denying Congress the opportunity.
The DMK leadership had allotted the seat to Congress.
In the morning, DMK councillor G. Manoharan had filed the nomination against Congress' Balasubramaniam and won on the sheer strength of his party councillors.
The DMK had 22 and Congress five in the 27-ward municipality.
In the vice-chairman election, Congress' Yuvaraj won.
Officials conducting the indirect election to Annur Town Panchayat chairpersonship had to postpone the poll after a DMK councillor snatched and destroyed voting slips.
According to sources, the officials were forced to conduct polling after two DMK councillors had filed nomination – Vijayakumar and Parameswaran.
The 15-ward town panchayat had seven DMK, two CPI(M), a BJP and Congress councillor each and four Independents.
As the executive officer began counting the votes polled, councillor Vijayakumar snatched a few slips from the executive officer’s hand and destroyed those.
The officer was left with only six slips on hand. This resulted in commotion and councillors almost exchanging blows, the sources said and added that this forced the officer to postpone the election.
He had also lodged a complaint with the Annur Police.
