The NR Congress - BJP ruling Puducherry is all set to host the local body polls for the first time in ten years.  The state election commission has been gearing up for the polls and the elections will be held to elect 1,149 representatives including five municipal chairmen, 116 municipal councillors, 108 panchayat council members, 108 village panchayat presidents, and 812 village panchayat ward members. 

According to reports, Puducherry Election Commissioner Roy P Thomas will be announcing the date of the election on Wednesday at 12 pm. The local body polls haven't been held after the term of representatives elected in 2006 has come to an end in June 2011. In the recently held assembly polls, NR Congress Chief N Rangasamy had formed the government with the support of the BJP. The election commission had earlier published the draft electoral roll and invited claims and objections from the public from June 21 to 27. 

After this deadline, the commission has released the ward-wise electoral rolls of electors with the view of letting the voters verify their names and check their designated polling stations. Roy Thomas said that the electoral registration officers had conducted field-level verification after the receipt of the claims and objections. The final roll was then prepared by adding 50 numbers of new electors and making necessary corrections in the electoral roll. 

When the local body polls were held last time in 2006, Puducherry had 6,59,716 registered voters in its territory and currently, it has 10,03,256 voters - 4,72,202 male voters, 5,30,937 female voters, and 117 transgender voters. As per the data of the election commission, Puducherry has the highest number of voters with 7,72,754 followed by Karaikal with 1,61,556 voters, Yanam with 37,817 voters, and Mahe with 31,817 voters. 

Puducherry's neighbour Tamil Nadu is also nearing the local body polls, which will be held in two phases on October 6 and 9 in the nine newly demarcated districts. These nine districts, which were mapped in 2019 and 2020, are Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Kallakurichi, Villupuram, Ranipet, Vellore, and Thirupathur.