ELECTIONS

Wards -156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 167 Population - 239382 (2013) Number of polling stations - 200 To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Recent spell of rains left areas under Manapakkam and Mugalivakkam inundated for days. Residents were forced to stay indoors for close to two days as the water-logging did not recede in many parts. A lack of proper stormwater drains coverage across the zone has been cited as the reason for the flooding. Traffic issues are frequent at the MIOT…

Zone snapshot Wards -143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155 Population - 433077 (2013) Polling stations - 309 To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Counting station - MGR College of Engineering, Maduravoyal Issues in the zone Encroachment of water bodies has been a key issue in the zone. Large scale flooding has taken place as a result of such encroachment during the rains of 2021. The Ambattur lake channel has seen construction on it, leading to water stagnation in many parts of the zone. Shrinking…

Zone snapshot Wards: 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 Polling stations: 439 Population: 715079 (2013) To locate your polling station – https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone – https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Residents have been demanding that Metro Water implement sewer connections for houses in areas such as Oragadam, Venkatapuram and  Kallikuppam. Wards 82, 85 and 86 are yet to get underground drain connections. Residents have also pressed for the long overdue widening of Rail Over Bridge at Ambattur OT to reduce traffic congestion, but the construction is yet to happen. This plan was part of a…

After a gap of over five years, Tamil Nadu’s state capital of Chennai is going to get an elected council to monitor the administration of the city. It’s also after a span of a decade that the people of the city will be going to the polling booths to elect their ward councillors. Although the official website of the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) states that the administrative set up of Chennai city includes a council of 200 councillors, headed by a Mayor, that hasn’t been the case in the past five years, that is since October 2016, which was when…

Zone snapshot Wards: 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78 Polling stations: 505 Population: 611680 (2013) To locate your polling station - https://tnsec.tn.nic.in/tn_election_urban2021/find_your_polling_station.php To locate your ward and zone - https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/citizen-details/location-service/find_zone.jsp Issues in the zone: Improper road laying leading to excess flooding in settlements and houses. In Vetri Nagar in Kolathur, manholes were covered up in the road laying process. Many incomplete development projects. For example work on Stephenson Bridge across Otteri Nullah is still ongoing. Residents are wading through drainage water stagnating on the road daily. Water logging during the rainy season especially…

“I’m 94 years and six months old,” emphasises Kamakshi Subramaniyan, who is busy preparing for her election campaign. Yes, the nonagenarian has filed her nominations for the upcoming local body polls for the post of corporation councillor. She will be contesting from ward 174, comprised of Besant Nagar and Adyar areas of Chennai. Known fondly as Kamakshi paati among the locals of Chennai, she is also the co-founder of SPARK, a civic forum, started in 2012 with the aim of helping the citizens of the city to tackle civic problems. SPARK helps Chennaiites by guiding them in approaching the right…

In continuation to the charter of demands submitted to the MLA candidates before the Assembly Elections held last year we, the  members of Community Welfare Brigade, are submitting the following Charter of Demands to all the potential candidates who are participating in the Corporation Elections in 2022 on behalf of the Residents of Ward 71 in Zone 6. As a citizen engagement group we would like to build a clean, safe and secure model neighbourhood community. On civic infrastructure and encroachments The traffic density on Perambur High Road, Madhavaram High Road and Paper Mills Road has increased significantly over the…

Residents of the NCR town of Ghaziabad, which is part of poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, have learnt one important lesson in recent years. That public health is an issue that residents have to solve for themselves through their RWAs, or other people’s associations. There was a distant hope, in vain as it turned out, that the new budget would at least mention public health, especially in the poll bound states. Not surprisingly, even though polling in this assembly segment is on February 10th, no poll manifesto as yet has promised anything that will improve the environment for better health. Administered by…

The constitutional right to vote has been the cornerstone of India’s democratic foundation. In a country as diverse, with 900 million registered voters in 2019 as per Election Commission figures, the model for exercising universal adult franchise has often been applauded. But the model remains beset with a set of unique challenges. One such long-standing challenge is checking duplicate entries in the country's electoral rolls. To address this issue, the union government has now proposed linking of the Aadhaar and the voter ID, as represented by the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC). The proposal immediately evoked strong criticism and raised…

On Wednesday, January 26th, Tamil Nadu State Election Commissioner, V Palanikumar announced that elections to various urban local bodies across the state will be held on February 19 and the date for counting of the votes as February 22. This announcement comes a day after the Madras High Court gave the green signal to go ahead with the polls, in response to a Public Interest Litigation filed in the court, asking for local body elections to be deferred owing to the COVID-19 situation in the state. Rejecting the plea, a bench consisting of acting Chief Justice MN Bhandari and Justice…