Chennai: Stage set for high-stakes civic body polls

Chennai: The forthcoming local body elections are expected to be a high voltage tussle between the ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK, separated by just one per cent votes in the Assembly elections.

With the DMK frequently pointing out the thin vote difference and showing aggression in its activities, the AIADMK is looking for a crushing victory that will reinforce its moral authority over governance and dominance in state politics.

For the DMK, it has to show that its performance in the Assembly polls is not just a flash in the pan by forcing a neck-to-neck finish in the civic body elections too. With the AIADMK having the advantage of ruling the state, the DMK will be up against the voters’ preference to elect a representative from the ruling party for the local bodies. It will have a tough task of keeping its support base intact, besides preventing small parties from getting closer to it in the poll race.

In the local body elections, popularity of candidates and organisational strength of parties play a key role and even independents with clean image and local support could beat the established parties. The People’s Welfare Alliance, PMK and BJP have started the preparations early in their bid to show that the voting pattern in the Assembly elections is not a true indication of their support. The percentage of votes for the smaller parties will be crucial for their bargaining capacity during seat negotiations in Parliament elections.

Though, a petition seeking reorganisation of panchayat boundaries in the ratio of population specified in the 2011 census, the government had stated that local body elections would be held in October. The AIADMK has started to hold meetings of functionaries to discuss the civic body poll works.

The popularity of political parties will be the key factor in urban areas, while individual clout will be more decisive in smaller rural bodies.

The prestigious battles will be fought in 12 corporations, where indirect elections for Mayors will be held. In case of hung corporations, minor parties winning a few wards could have a bigger role in electing Mayors.