Gains for DMK

Published : Nov 03, 2006 00:00 IST

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi. - M.VEDHAN

Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi. - M.VEDHAN

ELECTIONS to the local bodies in Tamil Nadu were held in two phases on October 13 and 15. A total of 1,30,962 representatives were to be elected. Polling was held for 475 wards in six city Municipal Corporations comprising Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Tirunelveli; 3,392 wards in 102 municipalities; 987 wards in third-grade municipalities; 656 wards in 29 district panchayats; 8,807 wards in 561 town panchayats; 6,570 wards in 385 panchayat unions; and 97,485 wards in 12,618 village panchayats, and for the posts of village panchayat presidents.

Three fronts were in the fray. One was the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA), comprising the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Congress, the Pattali Makkal Katchi, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Dalit Panthers of India and other smaller parties. The second front consisted of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and other parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janata Party formed another alliance. The DMDK, founded by film actor Vijayakant, contested alone. An important feature of the elections was the presence of thousands of independent candidates.

The DMK-led front scored spectacular victories. The ruling party also retained the Madurai Central Assembly constituency, to which a byelection was held on October 11. It captured five of the six Municipal Corporation Councils - Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchi, Salem and Tirunelveli. Counting of votes in the Chennai elections was delayed because eight parties approached the Madras High Court for a re-poll in many wards. Around Chennai, the DPA won a majority of the seats in the municipalities of Tambaram, Pallavaram, Alandur, Ambattur and Tiruvottriyur. In several municipalities, the successful independents will decide from which party the municipal chairman will hail from. The DMK is set to capture a large number of district panchayats, town panchayats and panchayat unions.

In the Madurai Central byelection, the DMK's S.S. Ghouse Basha defeated the AIADMK's V.V. Rajan Chellappa. The former polled 50,994 votes, which was 7,809 more than that polled by his own party's P.T.R. Palanivel Rajan (upon whose death the seat fell vacant) in May 2006.

The one-year-old DMDK did very well. It came third in Madurai central and also in a number of local bodies. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi praised the DMDK's performance in Madurai Central as "an appreciable improvement."

T.S. Subramanian
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