Indirect elections for heads of the Corporation, municipalities and town panchayats in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur districts were held peacefully on Friday with the Mayoral and deputy mayoral candidates for Vellore Corporation winning unopposed.
Sujatha Anandkumar and M. Sunil Kumar were elected unopposed to the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Vellore Corporation. They contested as councillors from wards 31 and 8 in the Corporation respectively. Both belong to the DMK which has won 44 wards in the 60-ward-Corporation. In the presence of the Water Resources Minister and DMK general secretary Durai Murugan, they assumed office on Friday. “After consultation with the newly-elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor, a date will be finalised for the first general monthly council meeting,” said P. Ashok Kumar, Commissioner, Vellore Corporation. Key municipalities and town panchayats in Vellore district also witnessed peaceful polling by elected councilors. In Gudiyatham municipality, DMK candidate S. Soundarajan (ward 12) and the AIADMK candidate M. Poongodi (ward 24) won the chairman and vice-chairman posts respectively. Interestingly, Ms. Poongodi won the post of vice-chairman for the municipality through a lucky draw after a tie-vote. The Pernambut municipality got V. Prema (ward 12) and Aliyar Zubair Ahmed (ward 14), both belonging to DMK, as its chairman and vice-chairman. The DMK candidates also won unopposed in the border town panchayats like Pallikonda, Thiruvalam and Odugathur in Vellore district. Neighbouring districts like Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai have the highest number of urban local bodies that went for polls — 14 each. V. Nirmala (ward 39) and S. Rajangam (ward 11) were elected as chairman and vice-chairman of Tiruvannamalai municipality. Likewise, H. Jalal (ward 10) and K. Seenuvasan (ward 13), both belonging to the DMK, won as chairman and vice-chairman of the Vandavasi municipality. However, the chairman for Arani municipality was A.C. Mani (ward 1), a DMK candidate, while the vice-chairman was Paary P. Babu (ward 13) of the AIADMK. Overall, the chairman posts for all the 14 local bodies in Tiruvannamalai was won by the DMK. Smaller districts like Ranipet and Tirupattur also got the heads of the local bodies from the ruling DMK. The DMK candidates for chairman won in major municipalities like Ranipet, Arcot, Melvisharam, Sholinghur, Walajah and Arakkonam, while in Ranipet district, candidates for the first four municipalities (Ranipet, Arcot, Melvisharam, Sholinghur) won unopposed. Similarly, chairman candidates for all eight town panchayats (except Kalavai town panchayat that was bagged by the AIADMK), including Thimiri, Nemili, Ammur and Thakkolam were won by the DMK. In Tirupattur, the ruling DMK won 79 wards of the total 118 wards of major municipalities like Tirupattur, Ambur, Jolarpet, Vaniyambadi and Natrampalli. Independent candidates also performed well in Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Natrampalli winning a total of 14 wards. The DMK candidates for chairman and vice-chairman posts won in most of the local bodies in the district like Tirupattur, Vaniyambadi and Natrampalli. However, indirect elections were postponed in Udaythiram town panchayat due to group clash.
