Casual elections will be conducted by the Tamil Nadu Election Commission on October 7 to fill 603 vacancies in various local bodies in the State.
These vacancies arose either because of the death of sitting members or the seats remained vacant owing to lack of candidates.
The notification will be issued on Wednesday and the receipt of nominations will begin on the same date. The last date for filing of nominations is September 23, scrutiny the next day and withdrawal of candidatures will be on September 26. Counting will be on October 9.
State Election Commissioner D. Chandrasekaran, addressing reporters here on Tuesday, said casual elections (by-elections) would be held for 506 vacancies in rural areas and for 97 vacancies in urban local bodies.
It would be on party basis for 115 posts of district panchayat wards, panchayat union wards and municipal and corporation wards and on non-party basis for 488 posts of village panchayat presidents and panchayat ward members. Electronic voting machines would be used for urban local bodies and polling would be on traditional ballot paper system for rural bodies.
Mr. Chandrasekaran said the Commission would request the State government to appoint observers of IAS status for the Tiruchi and Tirupur Corporations, where elections would be held for one ward each. District Collectors were asked to identify sensitive areas in their respective districts to post additional police forces, he added.
