CHENNAI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) has won 72.9 per cent of seats in corporations, 70.7 per cent in district panchayats, 54.7 per cent in panchayat unions, 43.2 per cent in town panchayats and 51.3 per cent in municipalities.

Besides capturing all the 29 district panchayats, six corporations and 116 of the 152 municipalities, the DPA has garnered a majority of town panchayats and panchayat unions.

The most striking feature of the election outcome is that coalition politics will be the mainstay in local governance.

By winning a large number of seats in the rural local bodies also, the DMK has disproved the notion that it was urban-centric party.

If the Congress, the Pattali Makkal Katchi and the Left helped the DMK in the rural areas, it enabled them to score spectacular gains in the urban local bodies.

Referring to the joint appeal made by the DPA leaders on Sunday stressing the need for a conciliatory approach, DMK organising secretary T.K.S. Elangovan said the allocation of posts only proved the party's intention of maintaining good relations with the allies. As the leader of the alliance, the DMK had more responsibility to strengthen the unity among partners.

Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) A.K. Padmanabhan said team spirit was the need of the hour. As parties had to rely on each other for support in many civic bodies, there was little scope for misusing the provision for unseating chairpersons through no-confidence motions.

Assistant secretary of the State unit of the Communist Party of India C. Mahendran said though there were difficulties in convincing some allies on the allocation of posts, they were not insurmountable. The coalition experiment would pave the way for healthy politics. As none of the DPA constituents had absolute majority in most of the local bodies, each had to rely on the support of the other.

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