SEC cancels Tiruvannamalai Panchayat bypoll

: The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission today cancelled September 18 byelections to the Tiruvannamalai Chetput Rural Panchayat, citing improper scrutiny of nominations.

The commission, acting on a complaint by CPI(M) state General Secretary, G Ramakrishnan against rejection of his party cabdidate's nomination, found that election rules had not been followed by the election officer during scrutiny,an SEC press release said.

"The Commission has issued orders to the District Collector to suspend the Election Officer immediately", the release said.

"Since a situation has arisen that the final list of candidates contesting in the bypoll cannot be declared, the proposed elections for the Municipality stands cancelled. A revised date will be announced later", it said.