Chennai: The extent of drubbing the AIADMK has faced in the Tamil Nadu urban local body polls can be gauged from the fact that the only municipality to be ruled by the opposition party is Sengottai out of the 138 where elections were held.
In Sengottai, of the 24 wards, DMK could win only seven seats while AIADMK won 10, PMK – 2 and BJP – 3 seats. Two independent candidates could emerge victorious. Even with the support of two independents, DMK will fall short of the 13 numbers required for the municipal chairman’s post. This led to Sengottai becoming the only municipality in the state where the DMK could not win.
DMK and its allies crossed the simple majority in 135 out of the 138 municipalities in the state in the urban local body elections. The exceptions to this were Manapparai, Vandavasi, and Sengottai.
In Manapparai, of the 27 wards, AIADMK and DMK won 11 wards each, and 5 went to independent candidates.
On Wednesday, DMK leader and state minister K.N. Nehru met the five independent councillors and secured their support thus paving the way for a DMK municipal chairman and vice-chairman.
The DMK alliance won 9 seats in Vandavasi while the AIADMK and PMK could win only 3 and 2 wards respectively. Independents won 10 seats. State PWD minister E.V. Velu, who is in charge of the constituency, met the independent councillors and secured their support thus leading to a DMK municipal chairman in Vandavasi.
There are 12,818 ward member posts in Tamil Nadu from 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, and 489 town panchayats. Of these, the DMK alliance won 8,757 seats and in all the 21 corporations party candidates could win more than 50 per cent of the seats available.
The DMK alliance is expected to take over the administration of 435 to 445 town panchayats out of a total of 489 town panchayats.
