DMK combine secures all 21 municipal corporations in Tamil Nadu

The alliance was led by DMK consisting of Congress, CPM, CPI, MDMK, and VCK

Tamil Nadu’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and its ally Congress on Friday formed councils in all 21 municipal corporations in the state, even as the party suffered an embarrassment with its cadre entering the fray in a few municipalities and town panchayats allotted for alliance partners.

As allies took objection to “usurping of seats allotted to them”, Chief Minister and DMK President M K Stalin ordered his party men who contested in the seats given to allies to resign immediately and warned of expulsion if they did not do so. In at least two places, DMK councillors filed nominations against the party’s official candidate and won.

“I express my regret to the alliance partners. Those who won against alliance party candidates should resign immediately. If they don’t, they will be expelled from the party. Also, those who contested and won against DMK candidates announced by the party should resign and meet me,” Stalin said.

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The alliance led by DMK consisting of Congress, CPM, CPI, MDMK, and VCK, also secured over 90 per cent of the municipalities and 80 per cent of the town panchayats where elections for the posts of chairperson and vice chairperson, and president and vice-president were conducted on Friday.

VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan demanded that the DMK members who won elections in seats allotted to alliance partners resign and make way for them.

The DMK alliance registered a landslide win in the elections to urban local bodies, decimating the principal Opposition AIADMK. The party allotted two deputy mayor posts to Congress, and one each to CPI, CPM, MDMK, and VCK.

It also allotted the posts of chairmen and vice chairmen of municipalities and president and vice president of town panchayats to its allies – the ‘alliance dharma’ was followed in a majority of places but in a few places, the DMK rebels won.

Of the 21 corporations where mayor elections were scheduled, as many as 19 were elected unopposed while polls were held in Nagercoil and Cuddalore. While BJP fielded a candidate in Nagercoil, a DMK rebel stood against the party’s official nominee in Cuddalore – in both places, the ruling party emerged victorious.

R Priya,28, was unelected unopposed as the Mayor of the 340-year-old Chennai Corporation. She is not just the youngest mayor of Chennai, but also the city’s first ever woman head belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC).

Other mayors who were elected from DMK are Kalpana Anandkumar (Coimbatore), Indirani (Madurai), M Anbazhagan (Tiruchirapalli), P M Saravanan (Tirunelveli), A Ramachandran (Salem), N Dinesh Kumar (Tiruppur), Nagarathinam (Erode), N P Jagan (Thoothukudi), G Udhayakumar (Avadi), Ilamathi (Dindigul), and Sangeetha Inbam (Sivakasi).

K Vasanthakumari is the new mayor of Tambaram, while Mahalakshmi Yuvaraj will head the Kanchipuram municipal corporation, Sujatha Anandakumar (Vellore), Sundari (Cuddalore), ‘Sun’ Ramanathan (Thanjavur) Kavitha Ganesan (Karur), and S A Sathya (Hosur), and Mahesh (Nagercoil).

Congress’ K Saravanan, an autorickshaw driver, was elected as the first mayor of Kumbakonam municipal corporation.

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