The French consulate in Pondicherry on Sunday held elections to the post of French Councillors, voting for which is underway.
"About 4,600 French people are coming to vote today. The result will be published during the night or tomorrow morning. We organized the elections with a very strict sanitary protocol to make sure we have safe elections," an official told ANI.
France has established the French Citizens' Council for Overseas French Citizens. The French consulates in the respective countries hold elections and elect the French councillors for this council.
The role of the French Councillor is to address the grievances of French citizens living in the state and about 4,600 French citizens over the age of 18 are eligible to vote in this election.
For the French Consulate elections, the Indian states have been divided into two constituencies. These two constituencies are northern states and southern states. Four councillors are elected in the northern state constituency and three councillors are elected in the southern state constituency.
While the southern state constituency includes people from Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Auroville and the Andaman Islands, the northern state constituency consists of French nationals residing in Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
Meanwhile, these representatives are elected for the term of six years and the term of the last councillor ended in 2020. These elections were scheduled to take place in May last year but later postponed keeping in view the COVID-19 situation in India.
The voting will be held till 6 pm and the results will also be declared today. The French consulate in Pondicherry has made arrangements for the election.
