Ponmani Baskaran, the AIADMK candidate, was declared elected as the District Panchayat chairman by a draw of lots here on Friday.
The election to the 16 councillor posts was held in December 2019. The AIADMK and the DMK (including their ally Congress and IJK) had won eight seats each. Hence, the officials had planned to conduct the election by a draw of lots to select the chairman and vice-chairman.
Though the officials had announced that the election to the post of DPC would be held on Jan 11, Jan 30 and March 4, it had to be postponed due to various factors including lack of quorum from the AIADMK side.
Objecting and suspecting a foul play, when the DMK members wrote to the State Election Commissioner about the 'undue' delay, the officials had informed that the poll would be held on December 4. They clarified that due to the Covid-19 curfew, the election could not be held.
However, as the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami's visit was announced on December 4, the officials again notified a new date - December 11 - for the conduct of the election.
In the presence of District Returning Officer / Collector P. Madhusudan Reddy, when the councillors were present, the election was conducted by a draw of lots and in the end, the officials declared Mr. Ponmani Baskaran as elected to the post of chairman.
