Indirect to the top two posts in all the 15 urban local bodies, including Sivakasi Corporation, went off smoothly. While 28 posts went unopposed, election was held to the post of Vice-Chairperson of Rajapalayam municipality, no election could be held for the post of vice-Chairperson of W. Pudupatti Town Panchayat due to lack of quorum.
Among the 28 posts, except for the post of Chairperson of Watrap Town panchayat, that went to Communist Party of India candidate, P. Dhavamani, all other posts were garnered by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Sivakasi Corporation
K. Vignesh Priya elected as Deputy Mayor of Sivakasi.
On the expected lines, I. Sangeetha (44) was elected as the first Mayor of Sivakasi Corporation. Another aspirant of Mayor post, K. Vignesh Priya, was elected Deputy Mayor. Both the women, who have contested election for the first time, were elected unopposed in the 48-member council.
After the election, the Commissioner, Ms. Sangeetha and Ms. Priya were sworn-in by the Corporation Commissioner. P. Krishnamoorthi. The Mayor who came out to the council hall in the ceremonial robes, was handed over a long silver sceptre. Minister for Industries, Thangam Thennarasu, and DMK partymen greeted the new Mayor.
Municipalities
The post of Chairperson of municipalities have gone to the local heavyweights of the DMK without any opposition to the candidates, announced by the DMK high command. The new Chairperson of Aruppukottai municipality, S. Sundaralakshmi is the wife of former Chairperson, S. Sivaprakasam, and the head of Rajapalayam municipality, A.A.S. Bavithra Shyam, is the daughter-in-law of A.A. Subbaraj, former Chairperson of the town. Both the posts were reserved for General (Woman).
The posts of Chairpersons of other municipalities, that were classified as general, have gone to men: T. Ravikannan (Srivilliputtur)-- DMK town secretary; S. Gurusamy (Sattur) DMK Town secretary and R. Madhavan (Virudhunagar), son of former town secretary, Rajakani.
Vice-Chairpersons: The names of the candidates for the posts of Vice-Chairperson were announced only in the afternoon by local leaders of the party before the election schedule. The new vice-chairpersons are -- G. Palanichamy (Aruppukottai), K. Kalpana (Rajapalayam), S. Selvamani (Srivilliputtur), P. Ashok (Sattur) and T. Dhanalakshmi (Virudhunagar).
Rebel candidate
While the DMK's official candidate for Rajapalayam municipality, K. Kalpana (ward 32) was expected to win unopposed like all others, K. Aruludhayam of DMK (ward 33) filed his nomination at the last minute creating a flutter among the ruling party members in the council hall. Though the opposition AIADMK had only two members (after its third councillor switched over to the DMK) was not a threat, the DMK camp was tensed by the forced election.
However, the official candidate, Ms. Kalpana won the election by garnering 31 votes and the rebel candidate, Aruludayam mustered only 9 votes. Two AIADMK councillors stayed away from the indirect election.
Town panchayat
Meanwhile, election tot he post of vice-chairperson of W. Pudupatti town panchayat could not be held as none of the 14 councillors (total number of wards is 15) turned up at the council hall in the afternoon. Earlier in the day, the DMK's official candidate, S. Subbulakshmi, won the post of chairperson without any opposition. Ms. Subbulakshmi had contested from two wards ( ward 7 and ward 12) fearing defeat in ward 12. However, she won from both the wards and she resigned from ward 7, from where her husband, K. Santharam, the party town secretary, had earlier withdrawn his nomination to ensure Ms. Subbulakshmi's victory.
It was said that the elected representatives could not come to a consensus on the candidate for the post of vice-chairperson and hence they abstained from the indirect election.
