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.
