Polling for urban local body elections to commence at 7 am tomorrow

Over 2.79 crore residents are eligible to cast their votes; over 57,000 candidates are contesting

Polling for over 12,800 posts in more than 640 urban local bodies across the State is set to commence at 7 a.m. on February 19 and wind up at 6 p.m. Over 2.79 crore, including 1.42 crore women, 1.37 crore men and over 4,300 from the third gender are eligible to cast their votes during the elections on Saturday.

Between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., only those with COVID-19 symptoms and those who have been affected by the infection would be allowed to cast their vote, according to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC). Over 1.54 crore are eligible to vote in Municipal Corporations and over 64 lakh and over 59 lakh would be eligible to cast their vote in Municipalities and town panchayats.

In the Greater Chennai Corporation, over 61.18 lakh, 30.93 lakh women, 30.23 lakh women and over 1,500 from the third gender are in the electoral rolls.

Over 57,700 candidates are contesting for the posts in urban local bodies. A total of 228 candidates were earlier declared as elected unopposed. There was no candidate in one ward in a town panchayat. The State government has declared a public holiday in areas where the ordinary urban local body elections are scheduled to be held on February 19.

According to the TNSEC, voters, both who were and weren’t issued booth slips could produce the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or any one of the 11 following documents to cast their vote in their respective polling booths. They are: Aadhaar Card, job card provided under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, bank passbook with photograph, medical insurance smart card provided by the Union Labour Ministry, driving licence, PAN Card, smart card issued under the National Population Register by the Registrar General of India, Indian passport, pension document with photograph, identity card with photograph issued by the Central/State governments. Central/State PSUs and identity card issued for members of the Parliament/Legislative Assembly.

“To avoid impersonation, any one of the above mentioned identity documents could be produced for casting vote during the urban local body elections,” the TNSEC said.

The electoral rolls can be accessed at: https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/. With the Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number, voters could get to know their polling booth from the TNSEC website at: https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php