Chennai, March 16 Officials removed posters, banners, and wall advertisements of political parties in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu on Monday as the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect following the announcement of the schedule for the 2026 Assembly election.
As many as 178 polling locations and 785 polling booths with a history of repolls or law and order problems in Chennai district have been identified by officials to deploy central forces for the April 23 Assembly election, Greater Chennai Corporation Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran said.
Chennai has 16 Assembly constituencies with a total electorate strength of 28.30 lakh, with 14.64 lakh women outnumbering men, who comprise 13.65 lakh. There are 829 third gender voters in the district, which has 4,079 polling stations in 978 locations.
As many as 16,500 people have been involved in poll-related work in Chennai, Kumaragurubaran, who is the Chennai district election officer, told reporters here.
Chennai, which normally records a voting percentage of 60, is likely to register 75 to 80 per cent polling this time due to the massive exercise of SIR, he said.
Meanwhile, following an instruction from the ECI, the state government has transferred D N Hari Kiran Prasad, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai Police, and posted him as Superintendent of Police, Karur district; D V Kiran Shruthi, SP, Anti Terrorism Squad, Chennai, has been transferred to Erode district in the same capacity; Sujit Kumar, DCP, Traffic West, Greater Chennai Police, is posted as SP Nagapattinam district; and N Shreenatha, DCP, Cyber Crime Cell, Greater Chennai Police, has been shifted to Virudhunagar district and posted as SP.
In Madurai, the vehicles belonging to the flying squads, surveillance teams and static monitoring teams were fitted with GPS devices and flagged off to step up the vigil.
Election control rooms have been opened in the district headquarters, an official said.
The civic body workers in Greater Chennai Corporation, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Thanjavur, and other parts of the state, removed posters, name boards and political party flags from public places as the model code of conduct (MCC) came into effect from March 15.
In Kanyakumari district bordering Kerala, the police and paramilitary forces intensified the vigil and initiated a thorough vehicle check at the border checkposts, the official said.
At Chengalpattu, the police and election commission's flying squads checked the vehicles for cash or articles meant to influence voters.
Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik has appealed to the public, especially traders, to carry "valid" documents with them to prove their ownership and avoid confiscation of the cash or articles.
"The officials will not seize the money if the traders or public submit valid documents claiming ownership," the CEO told reporters here.