An ad hoc group of Boston area civic organizations and university students, including Harvard members, announced yesterday a drive to circulate petitions at polling places on election day calling for the impeachment of President Nixon. Cambridge, Somerville and Boston will be holding municipal elections on Tuesday, November 6.

"We plan to be out there at each of the 150 polling places gathering signatures on petitions," Bob Schaefer, petition campaign chairman, said yesterday.

Each of the cities voting Tuesday is in the Congressional district of House Majority Leader Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill (D-Mass.), and all petitions will be forwarded to him. As House majority leader, O'Neill's support is crucial to the impeachment move.

The group has already gathered over 15,000 signatures in a door-to-door petition drive by over 300 people held on Saturday, October 27.

An expression of public sentiment is important to the impeachment drive, campaign co-ordinator Mike Segal said yesterday. "Congressman O'Neill has emphasized that no impeachment effort would succeed unless there are very visible outpourings of public anger," he said.

Segal characterized response to the October 27 petition drive as "very enthusiastic." "People around here seem to want Nixon impeached and we want to impress that upon O'Neill," Segal said.

Participation by Harvard students in the petition drive is vitally important, Diane Cohn, a second-year law student, said yesterday. "We need to impress upon O'Neill that his constituency is still concerned about the issues. The president did not divert the issues by releasing the tapes."

Civic groups sponsoring the drive include the Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Americans for Democratic Action, Citizens for Participation in Political Action and the Indo-China Peace Campaign.