CHENNAI: The DMK is back in power in the Greater Chennai Corporation after almost 11 years. The party’s alliance bagged 178 of the 200 councillor seats, decimating the AIADMK.
In many of the wards, the difference between the DMK and the AIADMK ranged from 5,000 to 10,000 votes. And in at least nine wards, the BJP came second. The saffron party got the third place in a dozen more wards, mostly in the harbour region and southern parts of the city.
“The AIADMK’s strength in Chennai has clearly come down because they gave crucial seats in north Chennai to alliance partners in 2019 and 2021. Secondly, without former chief minister J Jayalalithaa, many sections will go with BJP,” said political analyst Raveendran Duraisamy.
In wards of core city areas such as Anna Nagar, Adyar. Velachery or T Nagar, the BJP was in third place catching up with the AIADMK. “The results are a big endorsement of the DMK by the people, especially the women voters. The number of schemes implemented by the chief minister is phenomenal. It has changed the lives of women by making bus travel free,” said DMK spokesperson A Saravanan.
Political analyst V Maalan said the results show the people do not have any anger against the ruling party. “Second, Jayalalithaa was seen as a procorporate and soft-right Hindu leader. So without her, we can see urban votes eroding for the party,” said Maalan.
In 2011, the AIADMK had 168 out of 200 councillors. This time, it has got 15 councillors. “The DMK had falsely maligned us with caste and ‘saffron’ colour. They campaigned saying we favoured only a specific caste and called us a ‘saffron’ party.
But it is not true. Our party is built on secular and social justice principles too. With all this, we have put up a fight,” said Kovai Sathyan, AIADMK spokesperson. He said the party would introspect once the ward wise results are announced. “The DMK had unleashed fear among people resulting in poor turnout. Elections were not conducted in a fair manner,” he alleged.
