Tamil Nadu’s political parties have requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct the state’s Assembly polls in a single phase. The request was unanimously placed before Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, who is on a tour to Chennai to review poll-preparedness. According to reports, the AIADMK and the BJP have requested that the Assembly polls be held in the last week of April, after Tamil New year.

The reason for Tamil Nadu’s political parties to demand that ECI avoid May to conduct elections in the state is due to the harsh summer that is normal in that period. The ruling party AIADMK has also requested the CEC to consider postal ballots for voters aged over 80 years since they might be hesitant to come to the polling booth to cast their votes, due to the climate and the prevailing coronavirus threat. However, this request has been strongly opposed by Left parties who alleged that this would pave way for malpractices during elections.

The team from ECI that is on a tour to Tamil Nadu consists of CEC Sunil Arora, Election Commissioners Sushil Chandra and Rajiv Kumar, Secretary General Umesh Sinha and others. The team met with Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo on Wednesday, who apprised them of the poll preparations. On Thursday, the team will meet with the Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary and then brief the media. They will leave for Puducherry after the media briefing. The election dates in Tamil Nadu are expected to be announced early next month.

Tamil Nadu’s political leaders have begun their election campaign and are currently touring the state. Leaders including Edappadi K Palaniswami, MK Stalin and Kamal Haasan have started to meet people in large numbers and begun campaigning for the elections.