Chennai: Municipal Administration Minister S P Velumani today said the government is ready to hold local body elections.
He was replying to Leader of Opposition M K Stalin who cited Union Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Thomar’s statement in Parliament recently that the local body funds for Tamilnadu cannot be released as the civic polls have not been conducted in the State.
Stalin asked the government to conduct the local body polls at the earliest. Velumani said an amount of Rs 12,312 crore should be received by the State during the period of 2015 to 2019. “In this so far we have got 8,532 crore. For 22 years delimitation did not happen and now it has been completed. The SEC has submitted its stand in conducting the local body polls in the Supreme Court today,” he said.
Meanwhile, the SEC in the Supreme Court today said the delimitation process will be completed before October.
“There was a delay in preparing the revised voters list due to the Lok Sabha elections and the present drought condition. All measures are being taken to ensure that the civic polls are conducted at the earliest following the Supreme Court’s directive. There is no hidden intention in the delay for holding the election. Another 60 days are needed to finalise the voters list based on the new delimited wards,” the SEC argued.
Accepting the SEC’s response, the Supreme Court has asked it to announce the local body polls in October.