Candidates who came to the Athoor panchayat union office at Sempatti on Friday, to file nominations for the posts of village panchayat president, union councillor and district councillor, had to wait on the verandah of the office as there was no electricity.
The assistant returning officers had to verify the nominations with the help of torch available in the mobile phones, as the office had plunged into darkness without power supply.
The Athoor union consists of 22 village panchayats, in which there are 17 posts of union councillors and two posts of district councillors.
The Sempatti sub-station of the TANGEDCO had already announced a power shutdown due to maintenance work on Friday. The election officials should have arranged for a generator. “As per the direction of the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, generators should be kept ready in all union offices until the election is over,” complained a candidate from the DMK.
Because of the power shutdown, the nomination process went on slowly and took a lot of time for the officials to complete the paper work, an officer claimed.
When The Hindu contacted Collector M. Vijayalakshmi, she said that after an inquiry steps will be taken against the erring officials. She also directed the union officials to ensure back up facility such as generators were available at all the union offices in the district.
The Athoor Union BDO Seetharaman claimed that electricity was restored by noon. The officials did not use any torch or cell phone to fulfil the procedures, he maintained.
