Regional variations characterised the performance of the top three political parties, in terms of vote share, in the recently-held elections to 20 municipal corporations, barring Chennai.
The DMK, which romped home in all the municipal corporations, secured the highest vote share of 57.82% in Karur in the central part of the State, while its principal rival, the AIADMK, registered its highest vote share in the western district of Tiruppur, at 36.12%. The BJP, which was till recently an ally of the principal Opposition party, did its best in the Nagercoil Corporation in the deep south, with a vote share of 20.02%, which was not surprising given the fact that one of its MLAs is from the same place.
In respect of the DMK, its best performance in Karur, the home district of Electricity Minister V. Senthil Balaji, enabled the party’s victory in 42 out of the 44 wards it contested. But in the case of the other two parties, their best showing, in Tiruppur and Kanniyakumari, was not sufficient to get the maximum number of wards. The AIADMK won 19 wards in Tiruppur and the BJP, 11 in Kanniyakumari.
As regards the DMK, Vellore, the home district of the party’s general secretary and the senior-most Minister in the Cabinet, Duraimurugan, saw the party breaching the 50% mark. It got 51.19% of the votes polled, securing 44 out of 55 wards. In 11 places, the ruling party’s vote share varied from 40% to 49%; in five, from 30% to 39%; and in two, from 20% to 29%.
The party’s lowest figure was 25.9% in Tiruppur, which could be attributed to the DMK contesting in only 35 out of 60 wards, leaving the rest to its allies. Even then, it won in 24 wards and emerged as the single largest party. Along with its allies, which secured 13 wards, the ruling party obtained the majority in the council. Among its allies was the CPI, which won in six wards.
Nagercoil was another municipal corporation where the DMK’s vote share percentage was in the 20s – 29.94%. Thanks to the intense battle between the AIADMK and the BJP for the runner-up position in many wards of the local body, the ruling party bagged 24 wards. The other two had to be content with 7 and 11 wards, respectively.
As far as the AIADMK was concerned, its vote share crossed the 30%-mark in three other corporations - Hosur (35.43%), Sivakasi (30.63%) and Cuddalore (30.24%). In 14 local bodies, its tally fluctuated from 20% to 29% and, in the remaining two places (Tiruchi and Tirunelveli), it fell below 20%.
The BJP’s vote share did not touch double digits in any corporation other than Nagercoil. It came close to 10% in Madurai, where the party got 9.15%. In Coimbatore, perceived as a city where it has a considerable presence, the figure was 8.6%, and in the neighbouring Tiruppur, 8.38%.
Coimbatore, from where Makkal Needhi Maiam founder Kamal Haasan made an unsuccessful bid to enter the Assembly last year, witnessed all the nominees of his party (92) forfeiting their deposit in the civic polls.
