Nagapattinam - Municipal Administration and Politics

Municipal Administration and Politics

Nagapattinam was declared a municipality in 1866 during British times. It was promoted to a second grade municipality in 1986 and selection grade in 1998. From 1991, the municipal limits were expanded to have Nagore. The municipality has 36 wards and there is an elected councillor for each of those wards. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and IT. All these departments are under the control of a Municipal Commissioner who is the supreme executive head. The legislative powers are vested in a body of 36 members, one each from the 36 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson assisted by a Deputy Chairperson. The town became the district head quarterswhen the Nagapattinam district was created as a separate district.

Nagapattinam comes under the Nagapattinam assembly constituency and it elects a member to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly once every five years. From the 1977 elections, the assembly seat was won by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) once during 1996 elections, Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) twice during 1991 and 2001 elections, Communist Party of India (Marxist) for five times during 1977, 1980, 1984, 1989 and 2006 elections. The current MLA of the constituency is K. A. Jayapal, the minister for fisheries in the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Nagapattinam is a part of the Nagapattinam (Lok Sabha constituency) – it has the following six assembly constituencies – Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thiruthuraipoondi, Vedaranyam, Kilvelur (SC) and Nannilam. The current Member of Parliament from the constituency is A.K.S. Vijayan from the DMK. From 1957, the Nagapattinam parliament seat was held by the Indian National Congress for five times during 1957–1961, 1962–67,, 1967–71, 1991–96, and 1996–98 elections. CPI won the seat for 5 times during 1971–77, 1977–80, 1989–91, 1996–98 and 1998 elections. DMK won 4 times during 1980–84,, 1999–2004, 2004–09 and 2011 elections. ADMK won the seat once during 1984–89.

Law and order in the town in maintained by the Nagapattinam sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Deputy Superintendent. There are three police stations in the town, one of them being an all-women police station. There are special units like prohibition enforcement, district crime, social justice and human rights, district crime records and special branch that operate at the district level police division headed by a Superintendent of Police.