3,936 persons assume office in Tuticorin

A total of 3,936 persons who successfully fought the local body elections held recently, assumed offices at swearing-in-ceremonies conducted at different parts of the district on Wednesday.

Of them, 2,932 persons took charge as village panchayat ward members, 405 persons as presidents of village panchayats, 186 as panchayat union ward members, 18 as district panchayat ward members, 290 as town panchayat ward members, 87 as councillors in Tuticorin and Kovilpatti municipalities and 18 as councillors in the third grade municipality at Kayalpattinam.

Four town panchayat ward members, who could not assume office on Wednesday, were expected to do so on Thursday.

Tuticorin municipality

At a glittering ceremony held at the municipal office in Tuticorin, Municipal Commissioner K. Kanagaraj administered the oath of office and secrecy to all the 51 councillors.

The first councillor to take the oath was R. Selvakumar of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who got elected from ward 1 defeating his nearest from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Murugan, by a margin of 177 votes. He was followed by councillors who were elected from ward 2 to ward 51 in a chronological order.

The strength of the DMK in the house went up to 28, after five Independents joined the party a few days before the swearing-in-ceremony.

They included K. V. K. Samy, who got elected from ward 11, P. Delwin of ward 14, S. Rexlin of ward 20, P. Isaballah of ward 34 and A. Sankaralingam of ward 44.

Minister for Animal Husbandry P Geetha Jeevan was present.

District panchayat

All the 18 members who got elected as ward members in the district panchayat assumed office at a function held at the Collectorate.

The eldest member, Mavelraj (65) of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who got elected from ward 18, took the oath of office first, in the presence of the Collector R. Palaniyandi.
Subsequently, he administered the oath to the other members, which included Manoj, Thiruparakadal, K. Revathy, P. Selvakumar, Athishtaraj, N. Chinnadurai, Aavudiammal (all AIADMK), Vidyasagaran, T. Emi, A Bhramasakthi, A Bhupathi, C.S.Raja, Uma devi, Navaneethalingam (all DMK), Rajathi (Congress) and Subbulakshmi and Ramesh (both MDMK).

While the Executive Officers of 19 town panchayats administered the oath of office to the ward members at their respective headquarters, village panchayat presidents administered oath to respective village panchayat ward members.

Source: The Hindu