High-stakes for Tamil Nadu local body polls on February 19

The campaign for the high-stakes elections to 649 urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu will come to an end on Thursday evening after reaching its feverish pitch in the last few days.

Though the ruling DMK seems to have a clear advantage in the February 19 elections to 12,838 wards, the principal Opposition AIADMK is putting up a strong fight in several districts with its top leaders – O Panneerselvam and Edappadi K Palaniswami – crisscrossing the state.

The fight is three-cornered in a couple of districts where the BJP has its support base, and Paatali Makkal Katchi (PMK) wields considerable influence among Vanniyars, a dominant community in northern Tamil Nadu. Both parties parted ways with the AIADMK for the local body polls.

As many as 57,778 candidates are in the fray for 12,838 councillor posts and those elected will choose the heads and vice-heads of 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, and 490 town panchayats through indirect elections. The counting of votes will be held on February 22, while the indirect elections will take place on March 4.

The elections are a major popularity test for the DMK government which assumed office nine months ago in May 2021. Though political observers say the ruling party is “placed quite comfortable” in majority areas of the state, instances of people pointing out “non-fulfilment” of promises like Rs 1,000 for women head of households and a blanket waiver of gold loans.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, apparently confident of the alliance’s win, has confined himself to campaigning via video-conferencing. His speeches are against the AIADMK and BJP, especially Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and centred around federalism, state autonomy, and the Centre’s “attitude” towards Tamil Nadu.

The tardy distribution of Pongal gift hampers, whose quality came under question in several parts of the state, failure to abolish the NEET exam, and “forgetting” the poll promises are some of the issues that are being raised by the AIADMK.

Palaniswami and Panneerselvam’s no-holds-barred attack against the DMK has enthused the AIADMK which has been on a losing streak since 2019. Both DMK and AIADMK have exchanged barbs at each other on issues like NEET which will have no major impact on the electorate in the election.

While the DMK, its alliance partners, and AIADMK have fielded candidates in all the seats, BJP is fighting in just 45 per cent of seats and Tamil nationalist outfit, Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), in 65 per cent of total seats.

Prof Ramu Manivannan, former Head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Madras, said the BJP is going alone with a “defined purpose” and that the saffron party was expanding its base “gradually and slowly” in Tamil Nadu.

“When it comes to campaign of the Dravidian majors, the DMK has allowed its grassroots leaders take the lead in the field by making its campaign more effective at the local level. But it is straight opposite in the AIADMK where its state-level leaders are more visible, but the cadre is not that active at the grassroots,” Prof Manivannan added.

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