Tamil Nadu: Voting underway for Urban local body elections; Chennai votes after a hiatus of 11 years

Chennai: The Urban Local Body election in Tamil Nadu is underway on Saturday for 12,607 posts in 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, and 490 town panchayats but voting in Chennai is being held after a gap of 11 years.

The voting for the urban local body elections is being held in a single phase. In October 2016, the elections were scheduled but were postponed in the wake of the Madras High Court's direction. Subsequently, a host of developments, political and administrative, contributed to the delay.

The voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

According to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC), voters having COVID-19 symptoms and those who have been infected will be allowed to vote between 5 pm to 6 pm.

There are 57,778 candidates contesting for 12,607 posts. A total of 31,150 polling booths are there and nearly lakh police personnel have been deployed for security.

There are 5,960 sensitive booths in today's election.

People queue up outside a polling booth as they await their turn to cast vote.

More than 2.79 crore residents, including 1.42 crore women, 1.37 crore men and over 4,300 from the third gender, are eligible to vote.

Major political parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, Naam Tamilar Katchi, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Makkal Needhi Maiam and Amma Makkal Munnettra Kazagam, are participating in the polls for 21 corporations, 138 municipalities and 490 town panchayats.

The counting of votes will take place on February 22.