The celebration started for the newly elected councillors and town panchayat ward members from the DMK, AIADMK, Congress, CPI and the CPI (M) party as well as independents at 8 a.m. on Wednesday.
They reached municipal councils and town panchayat offices in Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts, accompanied by a large number of supports and family members, who wanted to witness their swearing-in as people’s representatives. The event, no doubt, caused anxiety among police personnel on bandobust duty.
The venues had been decorated and shamianas had been put up for the visitors. In some of the offices, huge LED screens had been installed to live telecast the proceedings.
In Devakottai Municipality in Sivaganga district, there were tense moments and drama from the beginning as the DMK candidates had won only in five of the total 27 wards. The AIADMK had bagged 10 seats, the Congress six seats and the AMMK five seat. An independent had emerged victorious in one ward.
Claiming that the majority of the councillors from the AIADMK and the AMMK were supporting his candidature for the Municipal Chairman post, Sundaralingam said the AIADMK had given a memorandum to Municipal Commissioner Ashok Kumar to conduct the indirect election on March 4 in a fair and transparent manner. “We have information that the DMK may jeopardise the election. If anything like that happens, we will go to the High Court,” he warned.
In Theni district, an AIADMK woman councillor in Allinagaram Municipality expressed her inability to take the pledge. “I am not used to speaking in public forum,” she said, and took her seat. The Commissioner read the oath on her behalf and she signed the register.
While a few AIADMK councillors took oath in the names of MGR and Jayalalithaa, some did so in the names of O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami. A Congress councillor took oath in the names of the the voters of his ward.
In Dindigul district, all the candidates elected in 486 wards in Dindigul Corporation, Palani, Oddanchatram and Kodaikanal municipalities and town panchayats took oath. Two of the candidates have been elected unopposed in Oddanchatram Municipality and six others in five town panchayats.
In Ramanathapuram district, 219 newly elected councillors took oath in four municipalities and seven town panchayats.
Though the DMK and its allies won in a majority of the wards, the intra-party feud appeared to be strong in many of the municipalities and town panchayats, with candidates vying for the posts of chairpersons/vice-chairpersons and presidents and vice-presidents reportedly offering sops to garner support.
In Devakottai, after the swearing-in ceremony was completed, the AIADMK and the AMMK councillors boarded a bus, waiting near the municipal office, claiming that their political opponents were “poaching” councillors. To avoid any such attempts, they were going to an undisclosed destination, they said. “We want to serve the people in a democratic manner,” they added.
