TN local body polls: 515 polling booths identified as 'vulnerable, sensitive', says Madurai DC

Ahead of the scheduled local body elections in Tamil Nadu, an all-party meeting was held at the residence of the District Collector, TG Vinay in Madurai.

In the meeting held on Wednesday, the District Collector held talks with the leaders from the various political parties in the state and apprised them of the preparations being done.

"As many as 515 of 2,032 polling stations have been identified as vulnerable and sensitive, based on the previous incidents," Vinay said at a press conference on Wednesday.

The District Collector added that the police personnel on election duty will be selected in a rotational order.

He also released a toll-free number (1800 599 2123), which can be used by the public, to inform the administration of any complaint or suspicion regarding the election process.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday set December 11 as the date for hearing a fresh plea filed by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Congress against the notifications for the local body election.

A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde agreed to hear the plea on Wednesday after senior advocate for Congress and DMK, Abhishek Manu Singhvi mentioned for urgent listing of the plea, saying the State Election commission has released or notified the polls without women or SC/ST reservations.

Earlier on December 6, the apex court had ruled that local body polls can be conducted in Tamil Nadu except for the nine newly-formed districts on a petition of the DMK.

The Supreme Court also directed that the delimitation process should be conducted in these nine districts of the state as soon as possible and local body elections should be held there within four months.

The DMK had on December 2 filed a fresh petition in the Supreme Court seeking its direction to stay the Tamil Nadu state local body election notification.

The petitioner sought a direction from the apex court that the notification issued by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission on December 2 should be struck down.