The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : DPA annexes a huge chunk of wards in municipalities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 12, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

DPA annexes a huge chunk of wards in municipalities

S. Nadarajan

Congress alone wins three chairman posts, 47 councillor seats

Pondicherry: The Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) comprising the ruling Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has annexed a majority of the seats in both municipal councils and commune panchayats in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. Elections to these civic bodies were held in three phases between June 24 and July 1. Results were declared on July 3.

The poll verdict shows that the DPA as a whole has annexed 76 out of total 122 municipal council wards in five municipalities and 59 out of 98 wards in the ten commune panchayats (five each in the Pondicherry and Karaikal regions). The civic poll held after 38 years in Pondicherry was the second election after the `de jure' merger of Pondicherry with the Indian Union in 1962. Ninety-eight village panchayat presidents and 815 village panchayat ward members were also elected (on non-party basis) through direct election.

The Congress is pleased that all its nominees fielded in municipal chairmen elections in Oulgaret (N.S.J. Jayabal), Mahe (Ramesh Parambath) and Yanam (Gidla Chandra Rao) have emerged victorious. Congress candidates have also annexed 47 out of 122 municipal councillor posts spread over these regions.

DMK jubilation

As far as the DMK is concerned its jubilation knew no bounds when the party nominee Dr. B.Sridevi won the election to the post of chairperson of the Pondicherry municipality by defeating her immediate AIADMK rival S. Tamilselvi and also former Education Minister Renuka Appadurai (PMC).

(Dr. Sridevi and 42 councilors of the Pondicherry municipality had since been inducted in office).

The DMK however could not stand the challenge of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) in Karaikal where R. Prebavathy of the DMDK emerged victorious by defeating the DMK and AIADMK in the seven-cornered contest for the post of chairperson of the Karaikal Municipality.

The DMK has annexed a total of 23 municipal councillor wards in the entire Union Territory, while the PMK got just from one seat and the CPI 5 seats bringing the total strength of the DPA in the five municipalities to 76.

The remaining 46 municipal councillor wards were annexed by the PMC (8), DMDK (2), Communist party of India (Marxist) and AIADMK (6 each) and Independents (24).

Poor showing

The AIADMK presented a poor showing as it could annex six councillor wards only (four in Pondicherry and one each in Oulgaret and Yanam). The AIADMK was unsuccessful in the chairman poll. The PMC, a fledgling State level party, could annex eight councillor wards only including one in Karaikal.

The DPA has proved its prowess in the commune panchayat polls also by annexing 59 out of 98 wards. Out of this the Congress alone annexed 32 seats while the DMK came out successful in 20.

The PMK was successful in 6 wards and the CPI in one. Of the remaining 39 seats, Independents got 21, the AIADMK 10 and the PMC 8.

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