The Greater Chennai Corporation has started preparations for the election of the Mayor of Chennai and 200 councilors. The elections are likely to be completed in three months. An announcement in this regard has not been made yet.
Senior officials of the civic body held a preliminary meeting on Tuesday.
Officials have started checking the status of polling stations in 200 divisions of the city. Physical verification of 5,700 polling stations has started and will be completed this week.
“We are checking the physical condition of the buildings. We will remove all those who are in demolished or unusable condition from the list,” said an official.
Work has started on the appointment of nodal officers for various works including allotment to Deputy Commissioners. An Election Cell has been constituted in the Chennai Corporation Revenue Department to coordinate all the activities.
The draft rolls for the assembly elections will be released on November 1. On the basis of this voter list will be prepared for the local body elections. BEL engineers will conduct the first level checking of the EVMs. The work will be completed by November 15.
Former councilor S. Mangala Raj said that the officials should ensure that all voters are aware of the change in polling stations during the election.
“During the last elections, many residents have been unable to vote in areas where polling stations were converted into a new building. Information about the changes should be shared with all residents,” said Mr. Mangala Raj.
Local administration in Chennai, which covers an area of 426 square kilometres, has been carried out by a special officer council for the past five years instead of elected members of the GCC council. After the council is elected, debates and resolutions related to civic issues will be held every month in the presence of 200 elected councillors, commissioner and mayor.
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