CHENNAI: The District Election Officer and Commissioner of the Chennai Corporation, D Karthikeyan, on Thursday announced the list of 35 assistant returning officers for the 200 wards that were newly carved out. The contestants for councillor post could file their nomination papers with these assistant officers.Speaking to reporters here, Karthikeyan said, “While the Mayor aspirants can file their nomination papers at the Ripon Building, contestants vying for the councillor post can file the same with these 35 assistant returning officers, whose territories have been clearly demarcated to cover all the 200 wards.” While Karthikeyan in the capacity of the Returning Officer would receive filled-in applications from Mayor aspirants, Superintendent Engineer (BRR) Ramamurthy, who has been appointed as assistant returning officer, would receive applications from contenders for the Mayor post in the absence of Karthikeyan at the Ripon Building.On the preparedness for the local body polls, Karthikeyan said the process to identify sensitive booths among the city’s 4,877 would be initiated soon with police help.All arrangements would be made to ensure free and fair elections, Karthikeyan assured the media.On the first day (Thursday) of filing of nomination papers, no one filed application for any post, he added.Null Voting Option AvailableVoters in the civic polls can exercise the null voting option, just like in case of the parliamentary and assembly elections where Rule 49-O can be used. According to Urban Election Rule, the Rule 71 deals with this option and the voters who want to register their vote under this criteria can exercise it by using Form 21 (register) to make it clear that they do not want to vote.
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