Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who is also the general secretary of the AIADMK sprang a surprise on Monday by releasing the names of the party candidates for the local body elections to be held on October 17 and 19.
Her announcement comes within a day of the declaration of dates for the local body election. It is also interesting to note that the Chief Minister who has been admitted to the Apollo Hospital since last Thursday for fever and dehydration is attending to her official and party works from the hospital ward itself.
What stand out in the list is the axing of eight sitting mayors including Saidai Doraisamy,the incumbent mayor of Chennai. During the budget session, the AIADMK the government had amended the corporation and municipal council law dumping the practice of direct election of mayors. Hereafter the mayors would be elected by the councillors themselves.
Jayalalithaa’s decision to announce the names of party candidates for the local bodies took all Opposition parties by surprise as they are all yet to finalise poll strategies and alliances. To make it short, the most of the Opposition parties are in disarrays except the DMK-Congress combine. The Third Front (popularly known as People’s Welfare Front) has disintegrated faster than it was formed with the DMDK of Vijayakant and TMC led by G K Vasan declaring their intentions to move out.
The chief minister, through a series of welfare measures targeting all sections of the population, has scored an initial advantage as 5.8 crore voters of the State move to the polling stations to elect the new local bodies. In Tamil Nadu, elections to the local bodies are contested with more spirits than that to the parliament and assembly as membership in the municipal or pachayat bodies is a coveted post and the stepping stone to the big league.
The schedule for the local body election was declared by P Seetharaman, Tamil Nadu Election Commissioner late Sunday evening. The election commissioner said that the model code of conduct has come into effect on Sunday evening itself.
This means Tamil Nadu is all set to witness an intense election campaign within six months of the assembly election which has held on May 16. The local body election is being held in two phases to elect 1,31, 794 councillors/members to 12 municipal corporations, 124 municipalities, 528 town panchayats and 388 panchayat unions. Counting of votes will take place on October 21.
Filing of nomination papers for the local body eection commenced on Monday and the last date for filing nomination is October 3.