An outsider watching electioneering by top politicians in Tamil Nadu might perhaps mistake the State to be the sixth one going to the polls this round. For, such is the pitch of the campaign in the southern State where elections to urban local bodies are being held after a decade. There are no star candidates, as Mayors of Corporations and Chairpersons of Municipalities will be elected indirectly by the victorious councillors. Following the collapse of the AIADMK alliance, the ruling DMK-led camp is pitted against an array of national, regional and fringe parties.
Two issues stand out in these elections. First, unusually for civic elections, leaders of major parties have been conducting daily campaigns. DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has been addressing party cadres of each district via video conferencing, which is simultaneously telecast at multiple locations. AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvam and co-coordinator Edappadi K. Palaniswami have been functioning like a double barrel gun, with each hitting the ground in a different region every day. This is in contrast to last year’s Assembly polls, when much of the campaign burden was shouldered by Mr. Palaniswami, while the coordinator was largely confined to his native Theni region. The BJP’s State president, K. Annamalai, who took the bold gamble to go it alone hoping to improve the party’s vote share, has been firing salvos at the DMK. Usually, top leaders issue statements and undertake campaigning in major cities in the last leg, while the candidates sweat it out in the wards. Second, the focus of the campaign is on larger issues rather than smaller ones. Mr. Stalin has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP-led government at the Centre, while also questioning former Chief Minister Palaniswami for the “lack of development” and “poor law and order situation” during the erstwhile AIADMK regime in the State. “Already, GST has taken away the States’ revenue. Now, the Union government is planning to usurp the funds raised by the States through [one nation] registration, which is one of the most important avenues for revenue generation. Are they attempting to take over and seize the States’ finances? How will the States run their governments,” he has asked during campaigns before addressing micro-level district issues that are more relevant to the polls.
A split in anti-establishment votes usually benefits the ruling party. But the DMK is taking no chances as it faced some criticism for last year’s flooding in Chennai and elsewhere; for not cushioning the impact of the floods through cash aids for affected people; and for allegedly providing poor quality ingredients in the Pongal festival hamper supplied to sections of rice ration card holders.
Mr. Palaniswami has also been going beyond normal election commentary. He is predicting an election to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 2024, two years ahead of the scheduled term, under the ‘one nation, one poll’ idea mooted by Mr. Modi. Besides, he has been warning citizens about a West Bengal-type ‘proroguing’ of the Assembly by the Governor, notwithstanding the latter clarifying that the action was taken at the request of the elected government.
The two Dravidian parties have also been attacking each other on NEET, from which the State is seeking exemption, and unfulfilled poll promises.
DMK general secretary Duraimurugan, a veteran of electoral battles since 1971, sees nothing unusual about placing national issues before a local electorate. Instead, he says, doing so will create political awareness on larger issues and bring about a “change in the outlook” of the people. In 2011, the AIADMK under Jayalalithaa created a record sweeping the urban civic polls. Whether the DMK will replicate this success will be known next week.
sureshkmar.d@thehindu.co.in
