THOOTHUKUDI: The DMK has become the first political party to seize the power of the Kadambur town panchayat which was held by independent candidates for over the last five decades. However, the jameen family in the region might continue to control the administration of the local body as a member of the family, who previously fought polls as an independent candidate, had joined DMK recently. The party and its allies swept the election held for the urban local body on September 29. When the votes were counted on Saturday, six DMK candidates, one each from Congress and MDMK, and an independent candidate emerged victorious.
The previous election to Kadambur town panchayat was rescinded upon allegations of irregularities in February this year. Later, the Madras High Court ordered the State government to conduct an ordinary election to the civic body with the same candidates who had submitted their nomination papers in February. The court had also declared that independent candidates Nagaraja (ward 1), Rajeswari (ward 2) and Sivakumar (ward 11) were elected unopposed.
Accordingly, the election was conducted on September 29 and 1,598 of the total 2,470 voters exercised their franchise in the nine wards. The AIADMK party did not field candidates for the polls, and BJP's candidate V Surendran was defeated by a DMK member in ward 9. The elected representatives include DMK candidates Kanagamani (ward 3), Thalapushpam (ward 4), Thamilarasi (ward 5), Saraswathi (ward 6), Chellathurai (ward 8) and Jeyaraj (ward 9), Congress candidate Mareeswari (ward 7), MDMK candidate Rangasamy (ward 10) and independent candidate Muthumari (ward 12).
With the DMK-led alliance bagging eight of the 12 councillor seats, it will soon nominate the president and vice president for the local body. It is pertinent to note that the Kadambur town panchayat was under the fiefdom of an erstwhile jameen family belonging to a dominant caste in the region. Also, people would not file nominations under political party affiliations to the councillor posts to ensure that they get elected as independent candidates and the jameen family members could become the president and vice president. Sources said a few persons who filed candidacy on behalf of a political party over the decades tasted defeat in the polls owing to the jameen family's influence. "This has been a practice here since India became Independent. However, the jinx has been broken now," they added.Meanwhile, a political party member said jameen family member Nagaraja, who had won unopposed from ward 1, had joined the DMK party recently and is likely to be nominated to the president post.