The Right to Information Act, 2005 (Central Act 22 of 2005) has been enacted to provide for setting out a practical regime of the right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the Control of Public Authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every Public Authority. This publication under section 4(a)(1) of the Right to Information Act sets out the obligations of public authorities concerned with Urban and Rural Local bodies elections.

Members of public, political parties, officers and staff concerned with Local body elections.

The information about the organisation is given in Part - 2.

Public Information Officer / The Chief Administrative Officer, Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, is the contact person for relevant information. He / She will gather the information required by the petitioner which may be available in various sections in the Commission and furnish the same to the petitioner.

The Legal Adviser of Tamil Nadu State Election Commission has been designated as the Appellate Authority as far as the Right to Information Act is concerned.

(a) Every application for obtaining information under sub-section (1) of the section 6 of the Act shall be accompanied by an application fee of Rs.10/- by way of affixing Court Fee Stamp.

(b) For providing the information under sub-section (1) of Section 7 of the Act, a fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheque payable in the following head of account, at the following rates:-

(c) For providing the information under sub-section (5) of Section 7, the fee shall be charged by way of cash against proper receipt or by Demand Draft or Bankers Cheque payable in the above head of account, at the following rates.

Persons below the poverty line are exempted from the payment of fee mentioned in the above para for seeking information under the Right to Information Act, 2005. The list of persons below the poverty line as approved by the Gram Panchayat and Local Bodies will be the basis for claiming the concessions and the certified extract of the list will be sufficient to avail this concession.

The working hours of the Commission is from 10.00 hours to 17.45 hours with half an hour lunch break between 13.00 hours and 14.00 hours on all working days. (Note: Applications/petitions under the Right to Information Act/Rules will be accepted during office hours on the working days only).

The representations/genuine grievances relating to the subject of Local Body elections from the citizens of Tamil Nadu are being received in the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and also in the offices of the State Election Officers, District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers during working hours on all working days.

The Director of Rural Development & Panchayat Raj is the State Election Officer. Under the superintendence, direction and control of the State Election Commission, the State Election Officer co-ordinates and supervises the preparation and publication of panchayat electoral rolls and also the conduct of election to the offices of the Rural Local Bodies, both direct and indirect elections.

The Commissioner/Director of Town Panchayats in the case of Town Panchayats and the Commissioner/Director of Municipal Administration in the case of Municipal Councils and Municipal Corporations except Chennai City Municipal Corporation are the State Election Officers. Under the Superintendence, directions and Control of State Election Commission they co-ordinate and supervise the preparation and publication of electoral rolls and also the conduct of all elections, respectively to the Town Panchayats, Municipal Councils and All Municipal Corporations except Chennai City Municipal corporation in the State as the case may be.

The respective District Collector is the District Election Officer. In respect of Chennai City Municipal Corporation, the Commissioner, City Municipal Corporation of Chennai is the District Election Officer. Under the superintendence, direction and control of the State Election Commission, the District Election Officer co-ordinate and supervise the preparation of Local Body electoral rolls and also the conduct of elections to the Rural and Urban Local Bodies in his/her jurisdiction.

The Panchayat Union Commissioners/Block Development Officers (Block Panchayat) have been designated as the Panchayat Electoral Registration Officer under Rule 7 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat (Elections) Rules, 1995 for the purpose of preparing and publishing Panchayat Electoral Rolls in respect of the wards of the Panchayats in the respective jurisdiction.

The respective Executive Officer of Town Panchayat and Commissioner of Municipal Council / Municipal Corporation and the Revenue Officer of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation shall be the Electoral Registration Officer under rule 14 of the Tamil Nau Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023 for the purpose of preparing and publishing the Electoral Rolls of the Town Panchayat or the Municipal Council or the Municipal Corporation or any other officer, as the case may be, in respect of the wards in their jurisdiction.

For every Local body, for every election, to fill a seat, the State Election Commission/District Election Officer shall, designate or nominate a Returning Officer who shall be an officer of Government or of a local authority.

The Returning Officer is primarily responsible for the conduct of elections from his local body. His functions (as well as those of the District Election Officer) are:

The State Election Commission may require the District Election Officers to appoint one or more Assistant Returning Officers to assist any Returning Officer in the performance of his functions. Every Assistant Returning Officer shall, subject to the control of the Returning Officer, be competent to perform all or any of the functions of the Returning Officer. In respect of urbal local body elections, the Assistant Returning Officer shall be competent to perform all the duties and functions of the Returning Officers except the following:

1. Issue of Notice of Elections

2. Delaration of result of elections other than the Office of the Councilor in respect of the Municipal Corporations.

The District Election Officer shall appoint a Presiding Officer for each polling station and such Polling Officer or officers as he thinks necessary but he shall not appoint any person who has been employed by or on behalf of, or has been otherwise working for, a candidate in or about the election. A Polling Officer shall, if so directed by the Presiding Officer, perform all or any of the functions of a Presiding Officer. If the Presiding officer, owing to illness or other unavoidable cause, is obliged to absent himself from the polling station, his functions shall be performed by such Polling Officer as has been previously authorised by the District Election Officer to perform such functions during any such absence.

The general duty of the Presiding Officer at a polling station is to maintain order and to ensure that the poll is fairly taken. He enjoys full legal power to control the proceedings in the polling station under his charge. The duty of the Polling Officers at a polling station is to assist the Presiding Officer in the performance of his functions.

The electoral roll of a panchayat shall be the same as the current electoral roll of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly pertaining to the area covered by the panchayat, as prepared and revised in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of people Act 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 (vide Sections 14, 23 and 30 of the said Act). This means that a person whose name finds a place within a panchayat area in the electoral roll of the concerned Legislative Assembly Constituency is automatically included in the Panchayat electoral roll and consequently gets qualified to vote in the elections to that Panchayat.

The electoral roll of an urban local body shall be the same as the current electoral roll of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly pertaining to the area covered by the urban local body, as prepared and revised in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of People Act 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. This means that a person whose name finds a place within an urban local body area in the electoral roll of the Legislative Assembly Constituency is automatically included in the electoral roll of the urban local body and consequently gets qualified to vote in the elections to the said urban local body.

The election process has the following ingredients :

Any person who contests in any direct election for being elected to any of the offices in panchayats, whether held on party basis or other-wise, can incur expense towards the various items of his election, subject to the ceiling as prescribed in the rules. The provisions in sub-rule (1) of rule 121 of the Tamil Nadu Panchayats (Elections) Rules, 1995 prescribe the ceiling of election expenditure amount for each election as follows:-

As per sub-rule (2) of rule 121 of said Rules, any candidate, either by himself, or by his election agent, who has exceeded the amount mentioned above, shall be deemed to have indulged in a corrupt practice under the relevant section of the Tamil Nadu Panchayat Act, 1994.

Further, the accounts of election expenses should be maintained in the format prescribed by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and lodged with the officers concerned within thirty days from the date of declaration of the results.

A candidate who stands for election to urban local body is permitted to incur maximum expenses for ward Councillor as noted below as per sub-rule (1) of rule 130 of the Tamil Nadu Urban Local Bodies Rules, 2023:-

Any candidate either by himself or by his election agent, who has exceeded the amount mentioned above or who has not kept a separate and correct account of all expenditure in connection with the elections as specified in rules or who fails to lodge an account of election expenses with the authority concerned within the period specified in the rules shall be deemed to have indulged in a corrupt practice under the relevant section of the Act.

Further, the accounts of election expenses should be maintained in the format prescribed by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission and lodged with the officers concerned within thirty days from the date of declaration of the results.

The Officers with whom the accounts on election expenses shall be lodged are as follows:

74th amendment to the Constitution of India have provided for the Constitution of District Planning Committee to every district, to have integrated planning body comprising both Rural and Urban Local Bodies. The Tamil Nadu Local Bodies (Election of Members to the District Planning Committee) Rules, 1999 entrust the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission for the preparation of voters list and conduct of election to the District Planning Committee.

Any Election held under the Rural/Urban Local Body Act shall not be called for in question except by an election petition prescribed in the Act or the rules, to the District Judge under whose jurisdiction the Panchayat/Urban or the District Planning Committee or other Statutory Committees fall, by any candidate or elector against the candidate who has been declared to have been duly elected.

An election petition shall be presented within forty five days from the date of publication of the result of the election.