With the appointment of eight nodal officers for the expanded areas of the city to supervise local body elections, the Chennai Corporation has taken the first step towards administration of expanded Chennai.
The nodal officers have been appointed for the new Chennai Corporation zones of Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur. The nodal officers are officials in the rank of Executive Engineer who would supervise the smooth merger of the suburbs with the city.
The residents may contact the nodal officers for merger and poll-related matters. Their contact numbers would be made available on the Chennai Corporation website – www.chennaicorporation.gov.in – in a few days. The officers would collect data on issues pertaining to elections and merger and sort out the problems at the field level. They would coordinate with the existing local body officials and report to the Corporation Commissioner.
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As the expanded Corporation has 44.5 lakh voters on the electoral rolls, there is a requirement of around 27,000 polling personnel for the local body elections expected to be held next month. Training programme for polling personnel would be conducted shortly and in a phased manner, said an official of the civic body.
The Corporation has appointed 36 assistant returning officers to receive nominations. The City Election Management Plan for the election has been readied which would be made available online soon. This would enable the electors to access basic information pertaining to the local body elections, wards, candidates and polling booths. Verification of 4,877 polling booths has been completed. Aspects such as structural stability and security of the building have been covered, an official said.