CHENNAI: The ruling DMK alliance bagged all the 21 corporation mayor and deputy mayor posts in the indirect elections held across the State on Friday. Though the alliance won most of the posts unopposed, it could only win 80 per cent of the 138 municipality chairperson seats due to rebel candidates and cross-voting by councillors. The DMK and allies had won 90 per cent of the councillor seats.
Similar was the case in town panchayats, where the alliance could win only 70 per cent of the 435 president and vice-president posts, though it had won 85 per cent of the ward councillor seats. As news about its allies — the Congress, the MDMK, the VCK, the CPM, and the CPI — losing in polls for chief posts emerged from across the State, Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin expressed regret and urged the rebel partymen who won the posts by contesting against the allies to resign immediately from the posts and meet him.
Earlier in the day, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan, in a tweet, had urged the DMK chief to protect ‘coalition dharma’ by directing rebel DMK winners to submit their resignations. In Chennai, DMK nominee R Priya became the corporation’s first woman mayor from SC community, after she was elected unopposed. The 28-year-old, a postgraduate in commerce, is also the youngest to assume office.