On the surface, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam performance in Coimbatore is something to be happy about. But a second look at the details suggests that in two of the six Assembly segments in the Coimbatore Parliamentary constituency the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate C.P. Radhakrishnan has polled more votes than the AIADMK’s Nagarajan.P.
In Singanallur Assembly segment, Mr. Radhakrishnan has polled 6,337 votes more than Mr. Nagarajan. And, in Coimbatore South Assembly segment, he polled 1,339 more votes.
Both are urban areas and come under the Coimbatore Corporation limits.
In rural areas, however, the AIADMK did exceedingly well. For instance, in Kavundampalayam Assembly segment, the AIADMK secured 13,598 more votes and in Palladam, the margin was 20,699.
This poor performance in urban pockets – Coimbatore Corporation limits – has forced the party men to wonder what went wrong in the Coimbatore city. Sources say though one can offer the explanation that the not-so-encouraging performance in urban areas is due to literate voters who clearly distinguish between Assembly election and Parliamentary elections, one has to concede that the performance of the AIADMK-led Corporation Council has not been encouraging.
An AIADMK leader, who has done some number-crunching exercise, says the performance has been bad in pockets where the local councillors have not performed well in the last two-and-half years.
And those pockets happen to places that were added to the Corporation two-and-half years ago.
Pointing to the 2011 Assembly election results, AIADMK sources say that in Coimbatore South the party won by 80,637 votes. Even after discounting the factor that the party was then in alliance with the DMDK and the Left and that the election playfield was different, the BJP gaining 1,339 votes more shows the discontent among the public. And, the elected representatives have to take a share of the blame.
The same holds good for the Singanallur Assembly constituency as well.
They say that if the party has to regain the lost votes and perform well in the next Assembly election in 2016, much work needs to be done and the next two years will be crucial. The party’s District Secretary and Mayor S.M. Velusamy refused to speak in detail. It was ‘Amma’s’ victory was all that he said.
