No quorum at Tiruvaiyaru, poll disrupted at Pattukottai

By Our Staff Reporter

THANJAVUR, OCT.31.

The indirect election for chairman was not held in Tiruvaiyaru and Pattukottai out of the 14 panchayat unions in this district today.

Mr.S.Kosalaraman, Collector, said quorum was lacking in the Tiruvaiyaru panchayat union, where only three out of 18 members turned up. Normally out of the total number of ward members, 50 per cent plus one was the expected quorum for conduct of elections.

In the Tiruvaiyaru panchayat union, the AIADMK won in 10 wards, the TMC in four, the DMK in three and the MDMK in one.

The chairman post was the bone of contention between the AIADMK and TMC here. Negotiations were held to arrive at a solution, but in vain.

In Pattukottai, supporters of candidates disrupted the election. Initially three candidates-two from the AIADMK, one of them a rebel, and one from the DMK-filed the nominations. In the first round, the DMK candidate got less number of votes than the AIADMK candidates and was excluded from the final contest. When the final election was going on, supporters of the two candidates disrupted the process. Jostling and heckling went on in the presence of the Revenue Divisional officer, Mr.Ponnambalam, and hence the process had to be stopped. After normalcy was restored, the RDO waited till 3.30 p.m. to complete the election process, but the ward members did not turn up.

In the Pattukottai panchayat union, the AIADMK won in 10 wards, the DMK in four, the TMC in three and the BJP and independent one each.

Mr.Kosalaraman said the Election commission would be informed of the developments and a date for a fresh election announced by it. Elections in the other 12 panchayat unions passed off peacefully.

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Section  : Southern States
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