Kanchipuram - Municipal Administration and Politics

Municipal Administration and Politics

The Kanchipuram municipality was officially constituted in the year 1866. The municipality exercised its jurisdiction over an area of 7.68 km2 (2.97 sq mi) and its affairs were administered by a municipal committee. It was upgraded to grade I municipality in 1947, selection grade municipality in 1983 and special grade municipality in 2008. The municipality covers an area of 11.6 km2 (4.5 sq mi) comprising 51 wards and is the biggest municipality of Kanchipuram district. The functions of the municipality are devolved into six departments: General, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, Town planning and the Computer Wing. 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 51 members, each representing the 51 wards. The legislative body is headed by an elected Chairperson who is assisted by a Deputy Chairperson.

Kanchipuram comes under the Kanchipuram state assembly constituency. From the state delimitation after 1967, seven out of the ten elections from 1971–2011 was won by the Anna Dravida Muneetra Kazhagam (ADMK). Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the seat during the 1971 and 1989 elections and its ally, Pattali Makkal Katchi, won the seat during the 2006 elections. The current member of the legislative assembly is V. Somasundaram from the ADMK party.

Kanchipuram Lok Sabha constituency is a newly formed Lok Sabha (Parliament of India) constituency after the 2008 delimitation. The constituency originally existed for the 1951 election. The constituency was formed in 2008 after merging the assembly segments of Chengalpattu, Thiruporur, Madurantakam (SC), Uthiramerur and Kanchipuram, which were earlier part of the now defunct Chengalpattu Lok Sabha constituency, and Alandur, which was earlier part of Chennai South Lok Sabha constituency. This constituency is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) candidates. P. Viswanathan from the Congress party is the current member of the parliament from the constituency.Indian writer, politician and founder of the DMK, C. N. Annadurai was born and brought up in Kanchipuram. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold that post and was also the first non-Congress leader to form a majority government in independent India.

Law and order in the town in maintained by the Kanchipuram sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a Deputy Superindent of Police. 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.