Tamil Nadu govt urged to conduct civic body polls

CHENNAI: Associations of panchayat presidents in Tamil Nadu met in Chennai on Friday and urged the state government to announce elections to local bodies as soon as possible.
The terms of panchayat presidents and civic body councils ended in October last year.
Representatives of the Tamil Nadu Federation of Women Presidents of Panchayat Government (TNFWPPG), the Tamil Nadu Dalit Panchayat Presidents Federation (TNDPPF), the Tamil Nadu NGO Alliance for Empowerment of Panchayat Government and the Puducherry Panchayat Federation met to discuss the problems faced by people due to the delay in holding the civic polls.
As mandated by the Constitution of India and the Tamil Nadu Panchayats Act, 1994, local body elections are to be conducted every five years. The last civic polls in the state were held in 2011.
In June this year, the state government passed a bill to extend the term of special officers of local bodies till December 31. This is the second extension for special officers with civic polls further delayed. Special officers were first appointed in October last year after the terms of elected local bodies ended.
In a statement, the representatives of the panchayat groups demanded that the elections to all local bodies in TN and Puducherry be held immediately, that the tenure of the special officers be revoked immediately and reservations for women, dalits and adivasis be fixed in rotation. They also demanded decentralisation and administrative reforms.
N Chithra of TNFWPPG said that they had met leaders of several political parties on the issue. They plan to launch a state-wide signature campaign soon.