Local bodies polls in nine TN districts on hold

The Supreme Court last week has put on hold the elections for local bodies in nine new districts in Tamil Nadu for complying with legal formalities such as delimitation and reservation in four months. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde considered the suggestion put forward by the Tamil Nadu government that it was willing to put on hold the local body polls in the nine districts for complying with legal formalities such as a fresh delimitation exercise and for deciding the issue of reservation for women and SC/ST candidates. The benchsaid, "There shall be no legal impediment in holding the elections in the rest nine districts of Tamil Nadu." It directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission to conduct the delimitation exercise and other formalities afresh and conclude them in four months. The bench also said the local body elections in the remaining districts of the southern state will be held as per the earlier schedule. The state election commission had announced that the local body polls in Tamil Nadu will be held in two phases - on December 27 and 30 - without complying with the formalities.