A. Visalakshi (40) of AIADMK defeated K. Selvaraj of DMK, who sought re-election, and won the Mayoral election in Tirupur Corporation by a margin of 77,669 votes.
Ms. Visalakshi secured 1,36,949 votes out of the total 2,75,373 valid votes polled while Mr. Selvaraj could get only 59,280 votes.
DMDK's Dinesh Kumar, who contested with the support of Left parties, managed to finish third with 43,378 votes.
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L. Kathiresan, who was fielded as an Independent candidate by the Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Associations, with an objective of seeking electoral and administrative reforms in the local bodies could muster only 921 votes.
Votes obtained by candidates of other major parties - T.D.K. Siddique (Congress)- 7,149; R. Chinnasamy (BJP)- 5,157; C. Vadivel (PMK)- 1,328 and R. Nagaraj (MDMK)- 9,562.
Of the 28 candidates for Mayor elections, 21 were Independents.
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The AIADMK candidates also swept the 60-member council winning 47 seats. DMK and CPI won four wards each, DMDK won two, and CPI (M), Independent and MDMK won one each.
Priorities
Ms. Visalakshi told The Hindu that priority would be given to augment drinking water supply and other basic amenities. “I will talk about the action plan after meeting Chief Minister Jayalalithaa,” she said.
The win also brought Ms. Visalakshi the distinction of being the first person to get elected as Mayor of Tirupur as the incumbent Mr. Selvaraj automatically became the Mayor after Tirupur Municipality got elevated to Corporation in 2008.
Some other successful AIADMK candidates like Krithika Somasundaram and K. M. Najimudin, who were elected councillors in Tirupur Corporation, opined that the massive mandate for AIADMK was the recognition for people welfare activities initiated by the AIADMK regime in the last five months.