Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Sunday asserted that the State Election Commission has notified rural civic polls afresh only as per the Supreme Court order and rubbished DMK's allegation of non compliance of court directives.
A day after DMK chief M K Stalin said there was no ther option but to approach the court again seeking full compliance of its December 6 order, Palaniswami said the top court had ruled that polls to rural civic bodies can be held in 27 districts of Tamil Nadu.
"Only based on the Supreme Court's directive, the State Election Commission has now notified the polls to rural civic bodies," he told reporters here.
As regards local polls in nine other districts, the court verdict said it should be conducted after completion of processes including delimitation in four months, he said.
"Since the DMK approached the court over civic polls, elections could not be held for about three years since 2016."
Similarly, the main opposition was now levelling some charges with an intention of postponing local elections somehow, Palaniswami alleged.
"The DMK is hesitant and afraid to face polls," he claimed.
Hitting out at Stalin for asking if the ruling party had the strength to face polls, he wanted to know why the prinicipal opposition was now afraid to go to the hustings when the apex court has given the go-ahead to hold elections to civic bodies in 27 districts.
The Chief Minister, who is also the co-coordinator of the AIADMK, said the SEC had completed exercises including delimitation by following due process and accepted as many as 19,000 petitions in this regard from the general public.
A high-level meet held by the DMK in Chennai earlier endorsed Stalin's stand to approach the court again to ensure "compliance of norms," like delimitation in the upcoming civic polls to rural local bodies.
The DMK condemned the SEC for "negligent action" in issuing a fresh notification on December 7 for polls to rural civic bodies without allegedly complying with the Supreme Court directives.
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