Chennai, January 3 (The Hindu): The DMK on Friday extended its gains in the rural local body polls, winning and establishing clear leads in a majority of the district panchayat wards and panchayat unions in the 27 districts where polling was held in the first and second phases.
The DMK had won 2,000 seats in the panchayat unions while the AIADMK won 1,668 seats as of 11.45 p.m. on Friday. At the time of going to print, the State Election Commission had officially declared results for a total of 4,805 out of 5,090 panchayat union seats.
In the district panchayats, the DMK won 217 seats compared to the AIADMK’s 187.
Results for 452 out of 515 seats were announced and counting was still on in six districts. Results for the remaining six districts were announced for district panchayats and panchayat unions. Counting for the posts of village panchayat president and village panchayat wards were still underway, which are not fought on the basis of party affiliation.
Six districts — Tiruchiruapalli, Thanjavur, Dindigul, Nagapattinam, Pudukottai and Tiruvannamalai — formed the backbone of the DMK’s overall performance. The party bagged more than 100 seats in the panchayat unions in each of these districts. Tiruchirapalli stood out for the party as it trounced the AIADMK by 95 seats. However, in Kanniyakumari the party drew a blank in panchayat unions.
The AIADMK was able to muster 100 seats in only one district – Cuddalore, where it won 109 seats to the DMK’s 82.
While the DMK’s ally, the Congress bagged 126 seats in the panchayat unions, two of the AIADMK’s allies made a mark — the DMDK won 93 seats while the BJP won 84.
Incidentally, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) the ruling party’s ally, which bagged more seats than the other two AIADMK allies, was tagged with “others” by the State Election Commission on its website. Ironically, parties such as the Trinamool Congress, BSP, NCP and Desiya Makkal Katchi that have rather microscopic presence in the State were provided prominence in the results charts on the website. None of these parties won even a single seat.
PMK founder Dr. S. Ramadoss said in a statement that the party had won 16 out 36 district panchayat wards where it contested and bagged 224 out of 430 panchayat union wards.
AMMK leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran said his party’s candidates had won in 94 panchayat union seats.
The AIADMK managed a majority of district panchayat wards in Thoothukudi winning 12 out 17 seats while the DMK won five. The loss must worry the DMK since its leader Kanimozhi won the Lok Sabha polls from the constituency by a margin of 3.4 lakh votes. The DMK also lost the race for the panchayat union posts by a margin of two seats. The AIADMK won 63 to DMK’s 61.
However, the trends that were seen on the first day of counting held on Friday as well, with the margin of seats where the AIADMK won being low compared to big margins for the DMK in most of the districts. While the maximum seat difference in districts where the DMK won in panchayat unions stood between 34 and 95 (where DMK bagged more than 100 seats), the margins for the AIADMK ranged only between 26 and 34 seats. But the AIADMK’s seat margins against the DMK in district panchayats was better.
