Tamil Nadu: DMK, allies win most seats in indirect rural local body elections

CHENNAI: The DMK has maintained its winning streak since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and has bagged nine district panchayat chairman seats, six district panchayat vice-chairman seats, 68 panchayat union chairman seats and 62 panchayat union vice chairman seats in the rural local body polls held in nine reorganized districts.
Its ally Congress won two district panchayat vice chairman seats and three panchayat union vice chairman seats; the VCK won a district panchayat vice chairman seat while the MDMK won a panchayat union chairman seat.
While the opposition AIADMK and its ally BJP did not win a single district panchayat chairman or vice-chairman seat, the AIADMK won a panchayat union chairman seat and a panchayat union vicechairman seat.
The state election commission held indirect polls on October 22 to elect candidates for the posts of chairman and vice-chairman in nine district panchayats and 74 panchayat unions in the nine reorganized districts in the state. Polls to the Nemili panchayat union chairman and vice-chairman seats were cancelled following anomalies in the poll notification. Polls to three panchayat union chairman seats and to five panchayat union vicechairman seats were not held due to lack of quorum.
In the bypolls to fill vacant seats, the DMK bagged the district vice chairman seats in Erode and Namakkal while the AIADMK bagged the district vicechairman seat in Coimbatore. The DMK also won four panchayat union chairman seats and seven panchayat union vice-chairman seats while ally Congress won one panchayat union chairman seat. The AIADMK, PMK and an independent candidate won a panchayat union vice chairman seat each.