The candidates of the Opposition parties will lose their deposits in the byelection to the Erode (East) Assembly constituency, Revenue Minister K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran said on Friday.
He was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a review meeting of the Revenue Department in Tiruvannamalai, Tirupattur and Kallakuruchi districts here.
Mr. Ramachandran said Congress candidate E.V.K.S. Elangovan would win by a big margin.
The Minister detailed the steps taken by the government to issue certificates within a reasonable time. Among the three districts that came up for a review, 18.82 lakh certificates, including online pattas, and community certificates, had been issued in Tiruvannamalai alone. In Kallakuruchi, six lakh certificates had been issued and and in Tirupattur, 5.45 lakh certificates had been issued since the DMK returned to office in May 2021.
Mr. Ramachandran said the Revenue Department was always blamed for the backlog because of its delay in issuing certificates, especially in remote and hilly areas. Now, as a rule, the Department should issue certificates within 15 days of having received petitions. As a result, only 6,400 petitions were pending in these districts. “We have told the officials not to reject such applications on some excuse. Instead, they should hand over the certificates by resolving issues,” the Minister said.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Ramachandran gave away appointment orders to beneficiaries in the presence of Deputy Speaker K. Pitchandi, Minister for Highways and PWD E.V. Velu, Revenue Secretary Kumar Jayant and Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh.
