ELECTIONS

Anna Nagar is considered one of the more well-developed constituencies in the city. The assembly constituency covers areas such as Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Aminjikarai, Shenoy Nagar, Naduvankarai. Many of these localities top the real estate markets of Chennai. Anna Nagar constituency boasts of many amenities such as parks, playgrounds, good schools and connectivity.  "Parts of the constituency with its rich neighborhoods could be compared to those in Singapore" says Mr Ratna Singh, President of Residents Welfare Association Asiad, Anna Nagar Tower.  The constituency is home to localities with some of the highest real estate prices in the city. Pic:Nileena MS…

In about three weeks from now, citizens of the state will be casting their vote to elect the Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (MLA). The state legislative body in Tamil Nadu is a unicameral legislature, that is, it has only the lower house, unlike Karnataka’s bicameral legislature with an assembly and a council.  The Tamil Nadu assembly has a strength of 234 members, known as MLAs, who form the legislative body. The members are democratically elected by the citizens of the state. MLAs are in charge of making laws, holding the state government accountable and approving public expenditure. On…

The upcoming Assembly polls will be a watershed moment in Tamil Nadu, as this is the first MLA elections after the death of the two political stalwarts -- M Karunanidhi (DMK) and J Jayalalithaa (AIADMK). In their absence, the next generation of politicians -- MK Stalin and Edappadi K Palaniswami -- have taken the lead to steer the respective parties. On the third front of the battle is actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) party.   The two Dravidian parties have released their manifestos for the upcoming State Assembly elections. From freebies to waiving education loans to reducing the price…

Nominated by the Election Commission of India (ECI), a District Election Officer (DEO) supervises election-related work in the district. In other words, the officer is responsible for ensuring good polling percentage, preparation of booths, setting up the grievance redressal system in coordination with the ECI, and conduct of other election-related duties.  G Prakash, Commissioner of the Greater Chennai Corporation is the DEO of Chennai. Ahead of him lies the Herculean task of ensuring safe, smooth elections during an ongoing pandemic, as the city gets set to vote along with the rest of the state in the Assembly elections scheduled for…

Elections, our festival of democracy, are around the corner in Tamil Nadu. A good indicator of election season of late has been the flurry of activity by the civic body across the city. Roads that citizens have complained about for years with no response get a facelift, potholes are fixed, pavements are laid and any and all grievance is addressed with a swiftness that makes one wish election season lasted longer.  Several infrastructure development projects which had been put on the back burner over the past five years will now be taken up on a war footing and completed in…

Earlier this decade, ‘new political movements’ focusing on transparency and fighting corruption -- such as India Against Corruption -- were the flavour in many Indian cities. As Kerala goes into election mode with local bodies polls this week, several such movements at the local level have fielded independent candidates for city corporations and municipalities across the state. Most of these movements are new, some being formed in the last few months even, but are mostly helmed by those with some experience in social work or activism. These groups have for now avoided political affiliation, and consider themselves an alternative to…

Tamil Nadu will see an all-important election for its state legislative assembly in 2021. With key political parties already kicking off their campaigns, voters too must do their part to ensure that their names are on the voting rolls. The Election Commission of India has released the draft voters' list for the state. Citizens can go through the draft voter rolls and get any changes in the same made if they find their details to be incorrect or if they have shifted residence. They can do this during the claims and objections period that will last until December 15th.  The required…

Hyderabad has been in a tizzy ever since the sudden call for civic polls on December 1, 2020, followed by ballot counting on December 4th and if required, repolling on December 3rd.  The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is in charge of the civic administration and infrastructure of Hyderabad, which is the 6th most populous urban agglomeration in India and spanning an area of 650 sq km. The GHMC elections are generally held once in every five years. This time around, they have been advanced by two months, causing strong ripples in some sections of the political parties in the…

As Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency goes into bypolls today, how well is the administration prepared to control the spread of COVID? The Election Commission of India (ECI) had released its guidelines for elections in all states including Karnataka, on August 21. Inputs from political parties were considered while preparing these. Further, the ECI had allowed States to come up with their own guidelines. And as per this, Karnataka government released its guidelines on October 16. As per these documents, following are the measures that would be taken on polling day: The polling booth should be completely sanitised, preferably a day…

Having spent the first two months of the pandemic and nationwide lockdown in politicking, to first grab and then stay in power, the Shivraj Singh Chauhan-led BJP government has now launched a 15-day state-wide “Kill Corona” programme from July 1st. The programme includes door to door surveys in urban slums and low-income households having high population density and poor municipal management as a majority of positive cases in both cities have been reported from these areas. As per data from the government's smart city portal, Indore has the second highest slum population (30%) in the state, followed by Jabalpur (46%)…