Six months after voters gave an overwhelming mandate to the AIADMK to rule the State, the electorate in 10 Municipal Corporations will decide on Monday who should take charge of the local bodies.
Over 84 lakh voters in cities will vote to elect 10 Mayors from 209 contestants in the fray. There were only six Corporations in the State in 2006, but Tirupur, Erode, Vellore and Tuticorin were upgraded as city councils during the DMK regime.
In the past, without any exception, the political combination that won the Assembly elections went on to sweep the local body elections. But, unlike in the past, in this election, prominent political parties including the ruling AIADMK are going it alone, making for a multi-corned contest. Voters will also be directly electing their Mayors, unlike in the 2006 edition.
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Though the offices of Mayors and Deputy Mayors are now either held by the DMK or its ally Congress, the two parties are contesting independently. And unlike in the Assembly poll scene, the AIADMK does not have in its fold actor Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and the two Left parties that were part of the combination.
In a last ditch-effort, DMDK and the CPI (M) created a new front, roping in the CPI in the last minute. Though the electoral battle has clearly been polarised between the two Dravidian parties, the DMDK and the PMK have sought to project themselves as an alternative. In Coimbatore, besides former Minister and AIADMK candidate S.M. Velusamy, DMK nominee N. Karthik, Congress candidate R. Chinnaiyan, CPI(M) candidate U.K. Sivagnanam and BJP's G.K.S. Selvakumar are contesting.
In the temple town of Madurai, 28 candidates including V.V. Rajan Chellappa (AIADMK), P. Packianathan (DMK), K. Kaviarasu (DMDK), I. Siluvai (Congress) and A. Baskara Sethupathi (MDMK) are in the fray.
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In Tiruchi, AIADMK's A.Jaya, DMK's Vijaya Jayaraj, Congress' Vijaya Sekar, MDMK's Rohaiah Beevi and DMDK's M.Chithra are the key contestants.
Salem, the fifth largest civic body, is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with DMK's Kalaiamuthan and AIADMK's S. Soundappan, DMDK's A.R. Elangovan, Congress's R. Vijayavaraman, PMK's R. Arul and a few others are vying with each other for their share of votes.
The contest in the textile town Tirupur is also equally fierce. DMK's K. Selvaraj, who is seeking re-election, is facing AIADMK's A. Vishalakshi, DMDK's Dinesh Kumar, Congress' T.D. Siddique, MDMK's R. Nagaraj, BJP's R. Chinnasamy and PMK's Vadivel Gounder. In Erode, the key contestants are AIADMK's Mallika Paramasivam, DMK's Sellaponni Manohkaran and Congress's Rajesh Rajappa.