Chennai, Oct 19 (IANS): The newly-elected representatives in rural local body polls in the nine Tamil Nadu districts will assume office on Wednesday, the State Election Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those who got elected in the bypolls in the 28 other districts also will assume office on the same day, the statement said.

The candidates who were elected unopposed or in the elections for members of the district panchayat ward and panchayat union ward, the village panchayat President and village panchayat ward members would assume office at 10 a.m. on October 20, it said.

The SEC also said that those who assume office on Wednesday will be eligible to contest or cast votes for the elections to the posts of President and Vice President of district panchayats, of panchayat unions, and Vice President of village panchayats, on October 22.

Rural local body elections in nine districts were held in two phases on October 6 and October 9 and the results were declared on October 12. The DMK and its allies had a landslide victory in the district panchayat unions winning 138 of the 140 seats and it performed exceedingly well in the panchayat unions as well as village panchayats. Main opposition AIADMK faced a major drubbing in the elections.

Superstar Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam and actor-director Seeman's NTK drew a blank in the election with the DMDK of actor Vijayakant also performing badly. However the fans association of superstar Vijay performed well winning more than 100 seats in the elections as independent candidates.