Defending the delay in conduction of local body polls in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy said that it is the Election Commission that requires more time in the conduction of polls and not the state government.
“We are not continuously asking for delays in the elections. There are just 90 days in three months and there are already elections(bye-polls) underway. It is the state election commission that has requested for time not the state government,” said the Chief Minister. “The AIADMK has always been ready to face elections even during Puratchi Thalaivi’s (Jayalalithaa’s) rule. We had even called in for candidates to apply but it was the DMK that went to court and stopped the election. Following that other issue came up. The election will happen in three months,” he said.
He mentioned how the local body polls which were slated to happen in October 2016 were stalled by Madras HC. This decision was made after hearing a contempt of court petition by division bench of justices M. Sathyanarayanan and M. Sundar.