Chennai: In a setback to the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, the opposition DMK managed to win more seats in the local body polls, the results of which were declared on Friday.
Of the 515 district panchayat council posts, the AIADMK and its allies won 240 seats while the DMK alliance won 272 seats. Of the total 5,090 panchayat union council posts, the DMK alliance won 2,378 seats while the opponent and its allies won 2,150 seats.
The winning party called it a precursor to the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, expected to take place in 2021.
In a statement, DMK chief MK Stalin said, "DMK has won despite the ruling party's anarchy, misuse of power and a partisan State Election Commission (SEC). Results of the rural local body elections prove that people's power is strong enough to win against any excess. People's confidence in the DMK and aversion towards the AIADMK have come to light with these results."
Stalin said the local body elections had been delayed by three years as the AIADMK was scared to face the people.
The AIADMK also penned a letter of gratitude to its voters in which it claimed its candidates had garnered the majority of votes in the district ward and panchayat ward elections.
According to political observers, this was a significant victory for the DMK as the local body polls are usually won by the ruling government.
"It is not only about the AIADMK winning fewer seats. It is about the DMK winning more seats, a second referendum against the ruling party in eight to nine months, after the Lok Sabha polls. The two Assembly bypoll victories pale into insignificance now," political analyst N Sathiya Moorthy said, referring to the Vikravandi and Nanguneri bypolls.
The DMK made inroads in several parts of the western region, including Chief Minister K Palaniswami's home turf of Salem district, known as the ruling party's stronghold, while holding on to its bastions in the central and northern regions such as Tiruchirappalli, Tiruvarur and Thiruvannamalai.
The results have also come as a surprise for the ruling AIADMK, which was confident of repeating its success in the recent bypolls to two Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu.
Some AIADMK functionaries believe the storm of protests following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act proved to be a spoiler for them, especially in areas dominated by the minorities since the party supported the bill in Parliament.
The polls, held after eight years, is the first local body elections since the demise of the towering Dravidian leaders J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi.
(With PTI inputs)
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