Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 11 : A seven-member team of Deputy Election Commissioners of India arrived at Chennai International Airport to review preparations for the upcoming Tamil Nadu and Puducherry Legislative Assembly elections.
The delegation includes Deputy Election Commissioners Bhanwar Prakash, Manish Garg, Pawan Kumar Sharma, Sanjay Kumar, and Ashish Goyal, along with other senior officials.
The team will assess the preparedness of the election machinery in both Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.
Senior Deputy Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India, Maneesh Garg said to reporters, "A team of officials from the Election Commission has reached Chennai and Puducherry to review the poll preparedness."
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Congress president K Selvaperunthagai said the DMK-led alliance is "very strong".
"The INDIA alliance is very strong. The DMK-led alliance is an extremely strong alliance. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam will win again and achieve consecutive victories," Selvaperunthagai said while talking to reporters at Chennai airport.
He further said, "We placed this request only with the intention that our alliance partners should immediately take the lead as primary field workers. The sooner we reach out to people, the sooner the INDIA alliance led by the DMK should meet them. On that basis, we express our heartfelt thanks, on behalf of the Congress Legislature Party, to the Chief Minister for immediately appointing a committee.
"This comes after MK Stalin firmly ruled out any shared governance model with the DMK allies, like the Congress.
The public posturing is likely to continue as the DMK has called for a meeting on February 22 to discuss the contours of the election. A probable discussion on the number of berths for allies is also likely to take place.
The 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly will go to the polls in the first half of the year. The DMK won 133 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls. Congress won 18, PMK won 5, VCK won 4, and others won 8.
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