THENI
“Andipatti and Mayiladumparai Panchayat Unions will go for polls in the first phase on December 27 and elections will be held for 501 posts in 285 booths. In the second phase on December 30, Cumbum, Uthamapalayam, Chinnamanur, Bodinayakkanur, Theni and Periyakulam Unions will go for polls and elections will be held for 898 posts in 585 booths,” said the Collector M. Pallavi Baldev, at a press meet here on Wednesday.
A total of 312 nominations were received across the eight panchayat unions, as on Wednesday evening, including 235 for the posts of village panchayat ward member, 73 for village panchayat president and 4 for the post of panchayat union ward member.
Andipatti panchayat union received the highest number of nominations totalling to 79 while only 7 nominations were received in Cumbum union.
The Collector said that indirect elections for the posts of district panchayat presidents, vice-presidents and union chairmen and vice-chairmen, would be held on January 11, 2020, after the elected persons take the oath on January 6.
The last date to submit nominations is December 16 and on December 17, the nominations will be taken up for scrutiny and December 19 will be the last date for withdrawal of nominations. The model code of conduct will be in force till January 4, 2020, and the counting of votes will take place on January 2.
Candidates contesting in local bodies should have completed 21 years of age, as on the date of nomination and their names should be in the voter list of the panchayat unions concerned.
For the post of village panchayat ward member and village panchayat president, the candidate should deposit ₹200 and ₹600 respectively. For the post of panchayat union ward member and district pachayat ward member, the candidates should deposit ₹600 and ₹1000 respectively.
The money can be deposited either as cash with the Assistant Election Returning officer concerned or at the treasury of the union concerned.
For SC/ST candidates, it is ₹100 and ₹300 for panchayat ward member and panchayat president respectively.
For panchayat union ward member and district panchayat ward member, it is ₹300 and ₹500 respectively, the Collector said.
There are 4,85,448 voters in the rural local bodies in Theni district, of whom 2,41,117 men and 2,44,282 women and 49 others.
Out of the 1399 posts in the district, for which elections will be held, one post of village panchayat ward member has been reserved for ST woman category, one post of district panchayat ward member has been reserved for SC woman category and one post has been reserved for SC general category.
Thirteen and 16 posts of panchayat union ward member have been reserved for SC women and SC general categories. A total of 178 and 106 posts of village panchayat ward member have been reserved for SC women and SC general categories.
Four posts of district panchayat ward member have been reserved for general woman category and four posts have been reserved for general category.
Thirty seven posts of panchayat union ward member have been reserved for general woman category and 38 posts have been reserved for general category.
Forty nine posts of panchayat president have been reserved under each of the general woman and general categories.
The Collector further said that 442 and 434 posts of village panchayat ward member had been reserved for general woman and general categories.
For the posts of district panchayat ward member and panchayat union ward member, contesting symbols will be allocated to candidates in the order of registered and approved political parties, registered but unapproved political parties and individual contestants.
For the posts of panchayat president and village panchayat ward member, as per form 9, the names of the candidates will be put in a lucky draw and based on that, 30 symbols on the ballot paper will be allotted to them.
The spending limit is ₹9000 for candidates contesting for village panchayat ward member and ₹34,000 for village panchayat president.
Those contesting for panchayat union ward member can spend a maximum of ₹85,000 and those contesting for district panchayat ward member can spend up to ₹1,70,000.
For complaints regarding the local body elections, the public can contact 04546-255996.
Dindigul
A total of 827 nominations were received in Dindigul district on Wednesday, across 14 panchayat unions.
A total of 16 nominations were received for the posts of panchayat union ward member, 176 for the posts of village panchayat president and 635 for the posts of village panchayat ward member.
Dindigul panchayat union saw the highest number of nominations totalling to 137 and Vedasandur received 99 nominations. Kodaikanal panchayat union received only 11 nominations.
Virudhunagar
Filing of nominations picked up pace in Virudhunagar district on Wednesday as 554 papers were filed on the third day.
While eight papers were received for the post of panchayat union ward member, a total of 291 persons filed nominations for the post of panchayat president and another 254 filed for the post of panchayat ward member.
While 113 nominations were received on the first day, only 28 papers were received on Tuesday.
