Chennai, March 3 (IANS) Election officials Thursday ruled out any change in the assembly poll schedule for Tamil Nadu despite various political parties of the state, barring the Congress, expressing their reservations over the April 13 date for balloting.

‘The elections will be held as announced. There will be no change in the poll schedule announced earlier,’ state chief electoral officer (CEO) Praveen Kumar told reporters here.

The commission Tuesday set April 13 for the single-phase poll in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and May 13 for counting of votes.

Many parties, including the ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK, have opposed the present schedule citing the short time for campaigning, final school examinations, festivals and the one month wait for counting of votes.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner S.Y.Quraishi dated March 3 and released to the media here, AIADMK chief J.Jayalalithaa urged him to have the poll conducted during end-April or early May.

She said class 10 and 12 students will be giving their state board exams when the electioneering would reach their peak, thereby affecting their examination preparation.

She also said the voting is a day before April 14, traditionally celebrated by the Tamil people all over the world as Tamil New Year’s Day.

‘This day is of particular significance to the people of Tamil Nadu and Pudhucherry and traditionally the people celebrate the New Year Day function as a family event in their native places. This would lead to large scale migration of people on or around the date of polling and would definitely result in a poor voter turnout, opening the doors for hooligans and bogus voters to subvert the democratic process,’ she said in her letter.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi also wondered about the reason for the long interval between the polling date and the counting of votes.

Stating that his government was not consulted on the poll schedule, Karunanidhi said the term of the current assembly ends on May 16 thereby leaving just three days for the next government’s formation.

Chennai, March 3 (IANS) Election officials Thursday ruled out any change in the assembly poll schedule for Tamil Nadu despite various political parties of the state, barring the Congress, expressing their reservations over the April 13 date for balloting.

‘The elections will be held as announced. There will be no change in the poll schedule announced earlier,’ state chief electoral officer (CEO) Praveen Kumar told reporters here.

The commission Tuesday set April 13 for the single-phase poll in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry and May 13 for counting of votes.

Many parties, including the ruling DMK and the opposition AIADMK, have opposed the present schedule citing the short time for campaigning, final school examinations, festivals and the one month wait for counting of votes.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner S.Y.Quraishi dated March 3 and released to the media here, AIADMK chief J.Jayalalithaa urged him to have the poll conducted during end-April or early May.

She said class 10 and 12 students will be giving their state board exams when the electioneering would reach their peak, thereby affecting their examination preparation.

She also said the voting is a day before April 14, traditionally celebrated by the Tamil people all over the world as Tamil New Year’s Day.

‘This day is of particular significance to the people of Tamil Nadu and Pudhucherry and traditionally the people celebrate the New Year Day function as a family event in their native places. This would lead to large scale migration of people on or around the date of polling and would definitely result in a poor voter turnout, opening the doors for hooligans and bogus voters to subvert the democratic process,’ she said in her letter.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M. Karunanidhi also wondered about the reason for the long interval between the polling date and the counting of votes.

Stating that his government was not consulted on the poll schedule, Karunanidhi said the term of the current assembly ends on May 16 thereby leaving just three days for the next government’s formation.