Chennai:The Tamil Nadu Local body polls are turning out to be historic as a 49-year-old woman, a full-time conservancy worker prior to filling her nomination, was elected as the president of the same panchayat in which she was previously employed.
According to reports, G Saraswathi was a full-time conservancy worker in the Kanaspuram panchayat office. Later, she resigned from her post and decided to contest the elections in 2016.
However, the elections were cancelled that year and had to face severe hardship as she gave up the government job after 16 years of service.
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Saraswathi won the contest with a margin of 302 votes. The process of counting of votes polled in the two-phased rural local bodies held on December 27 and 30 in Tamil Nadu began on Thursday morning. As per the trends, the DMK has surged ahead, as it leads in seats for Panchayat Union Ward member and district panchayat ward members.
The elections for the rural local bodies were held in two phases in 27 districts, barring the nine newly carved ones in line with the apex court's order. The ballot papers in four different colours were used in the poll instead of the electronic voting machines (EVM).
According to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) the first phase saw polling of 76.19 per cent, and the second phase saw 77.73 per cent. Over 2.31 lakh contested the polls for 91,975 posts.
The posts include Gram Panchayat Ward member, Gram Panchayat President, Panchayat Union ward member and District Panchayat Union Ward member posts.
