TN this Week: BJP, Congress in Tiff Over 3rd Position in Local Body Polls

In a massive landslide, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led alliance won a majority in the urban local bodies (ULB) in Tamil Nadu. The results for the polls held on February 19 were counted on February 22.

The AIADMK finished a distant second, bagging a total of 2,008 seats. It won no municipal corporations and only one municipality and a handful of  town panchayats.

Soon after the results were announced, talks of the indirect elections for Mayors and Deputy Mayors of municipal corporations, Chairperson and Vice-Chairpersons of municipalities and town panchayats began. The indirect polls are to be held across the State on March 4.

In yet another fireworks unit explosion in a leading firecracker manufacturer on February 24 in Kovilpatti, four workers died.

As the war escalates in Ukraine, Tamil Nadu has opened a 24/7 helpline for Tamilians stranded in the war-torn nation. With as many as 5,000 students from Tamil Nadu stuck in Ukraine, Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the state would bear the cost of bringing them back.

ULB RESULTS

The Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), led by the DMK, won all 21 city corporations. It won 128 out of the 138 municipalities and 400 out of 489 town panchayats in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK alone won 57.59% of seats and 43.13% of the total votes polled in the single-phased election held on February 19. The AIADMK that contested separately got 15.82% of total seats in urban local bodies and a 25.15% vote share.

As part of the SPA, the Congress fielded candidates in 1,370 seats allotted in the DMK-led alliance, and 592 emerged victoriously. It secured 3.31% votes in the seats it contested.

Contesting alone, the BJP fielded candidates for 5,594 of the total 12,838 seats in the urban local body polls and won 308 seats.

The BJP President Annamalai made tall claims that the party has become the third-largest force in the state. The Tamil Nadu Congress Committee rejected BJP’s claims citing numbers.

Other state-level parties did not make their presence felt in these elections.

Candidates backed by the Vijay Makkal Iyakkam (VMI), a fan club of actor Vijay, made inroads in these polls.

3 CASES AGAINST SENIOR AIADMK LEADER

AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu minister D Jayakumar were arrested on February 21 for allegedly attacking and disrobing a DMK member at a polling booth on urban local body polling day.

Terming the arrest an “act of political vengeance” of the DMK government, the AIADMK announced agitation in all district headquarters on February 28.

While in custody, two other cases of endangering others during the pandemic and land grab were filed against him.

RETIRED TRANSPORT WORKERS PROTEST

A State-wide demonstration was organised by the State Transport Employees' Retirement Welfare Association in several district headquarters on February 25, demanding disbursal of dearness allowance (DA) arrears to retired employees.

Following the State government's assurance, they temporarily withdrew their protest.

PART-TIME TEACHERS PROTEST

Hundreds of part-time special teachers staged a protest on the Directorate of Public Instruction (DPI) in Chennai, demanding that their jobs be made permanent.

The state has over 12,100 part-time teachers working in government schools for eight subjects, including music, art and craft, physical education and computers. The demand for job regularisation has been a long-standing one.