Election of Councillors, Mayor on Oct.17.

Elections to the Chennai Corporation council will take place on October 17.

You get to elect the councillor for your ward and you also have to vote for the Mayor of your choice at the same booth on the same day. (This time, the Mayor is to be directly elected).

The ward limits have been redrawn and numbered following the Greater Chennai expansion of the city so your local ward may have a new number.

Commissioner D. Karthikeyan has announced the list of 35 assistant returning officers for the local body elections in 200 wards in the city.

He says polling staff will be specially trained to use electronic voting machines since EVMs are to be deployed. Wards are also reserved for SC/ST and women.

The election will be held on October 17 and votes will be counted on October 21. The election process in the city will be completed by October 23 and the Deputy Mayor will be elected by the councillors on October 29.

The civic body will also have a web link on the local body elections on its web site. Since many people are ignorant of the redesigned wards/zones and on data related to the poll, this is timely.

Some parties like Makkal Sakthi have begun screening candidates while some activists are planning to contest independently.

Since most political parties are going in alone or in league with one/two parties, there could be multi-cornered battles.