Chennai: Chief Minister M K Stalin will hold a meeting today in connection with conducting the local body elections in the State.
It is said that Ministers K N Nehru, Periyakaruppan and senior officials will take part in the meeting which is scheduled to take place at the Secretariat later this evening.
The meeting is being held at a time when the Supreme Court has ordered that the elections should be held before 15 September.
It may be noted that Tamilnadu Minister for Municipal Administration K N Nehru had recently said that the urban local body elections will be held in the State before December.
The Supreme Court has already given a deadline till 15 September for the Tamilnadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to conduct local body polls in nine new districts in the State.
Civic polls have not been conducted in these nine districts for more than two years, the Court observed.
Senior advocate PS Narasimha who appeared on behalf of the TNSEC informed the Court that Tamilnadu had logged the highest number of coronavirus cases and also added that delimitation has to be done in the newly carved districts.
He also said that the TNSEC needed more time because electronic voting machines will have to be brought from the Election Commission of India.
After hearing the argument, Justice Hemant Gupta, heading a two-judge bench also comprising Justice Aniruddha Bose, replied, “Covid is a good excuse in all matters. We know the reality in these matters, unless and until political parties are ready, elections are not held.”
The court said the notification for the elections was issued in 2019. ‘The delimitation was supposed to be done in four months,’ Justice Gupta observed.
Following this the Court gave TNSEC time till 15 September to complete the election process.
Local body polls were conducted in Tamilnadu in 2019 leaving out nine new districts where delimitation had to be done. The tenure of the previous local body had ended in 2016.
Arrangements for President visit
Stalin will also hold a meeting with officials today evening to discuss the arrangements to be made during President Ram Nath Kovind’s visit to the State.
Ram Nath Kovind will attend the centenary celebrations of the first meeting of the Madras Legislative Council in 1921 and unveil a portrait of late DMK chief and former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi in the Tamilnadu assembly hall on 2 August.
He will also attend an event to mark the country’s 75th Independence Day.