CHENNAI: The importance of local body elections to grassroots democracy cannot be overstated. While serving the people who live next door helps budding politicians understand societal problems easily, victories in civic elections serve as catalysts for political parties in their march to power.
Over six decades ago, winning the elections to Chennai Corporation in 1959 gave a big impetus to the DMK’s political journey and this significant win was led by former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi when he was an MLA and a senior functionary of the DMK.
In 1959, for the 100 wards in Chennai, 402 candidates were in the fray. Though DMK functionaries V Munusamy and AP Arasu were members of the corporation, they were functioning only as independents. As in-charge of the election committee, Karunanidhi had decided to field 90 candidates. However, party president ‘Arignar’ CN Annadurai felt the party should field 20 to 30 candidates only as it was new to electoral politics.
However, Karunanidhi argued his case well and got the approval of Anna for fielding 90 candidates. Karunanidhi had recorded this in the first volume of his autobiography Nenjukku Needhi. Karunanidhi was sure that at least 40 DMK candidates would win and Anna promised him a ‘kanayazhi’ (ring) if that happened.
But DMK did even better and 45 candidates won the election. With the help of CPI members, AP Arasu became the first mayor elected from DMK. Another DMK candidate Sivasankaran, hailing from Scheduled Caste community, was made Deputy Mayor. As promised, Anna, at a public meeting on Marina, presented a gold ring to Karunanidhi which he wore throughout his life.
“The DMK’s win in Chennai Corporation in 1959 heralded the party’s rise to power in 1967. That election highlighted the growth of the DMK to the people. Gradually, the DMK became popular across the State. The Congress party which was the then ruling party ignored the DMK’s victory in Corporation polls and this had led to the party’s defeat in 1967,” K Thirunavukkarasu, historian of the Dravidian movement, told TNIE.
He also recalled that even before the launch of the Justice party and the DMK, Sir Pitti Theagaraya as president of the Chennai Corporation for four decades had rolled out many schemes that became popular in due course. Theagaraya was one of the founders of the Justice party in 1916. The provision of midday meals to the school students was started in Chennai corporation only during the days of the Justice party.
Such initiatives which fulfilled the requirements of the needy laid a good foundation for the growth of the Dravidian parties in the later years, Thirunavukkarasu said.
Stalin schedules virtual campaign
Chennai: To mobilise votes for DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance candidates, Chief Minister MK Stalin has scheduled a video-conference campaign for 11 days at various districts ahead of the urban local body elections. According to a DMK press statement, the Chief Minister will hold video-conference events between February 6 and 17. He will commence his campaign in Coimbatore on February 6, and will move to Salem, Cuddalore, Thoothukudi, Erode, Kanniyakumari, Tiruppur, Dindigul, Madurai, Thanjavur and Tirunelveli districts. His last campaign in Tirunelveli will take place on February 17. Meanwhile, AIADMK coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami will be launching his campaign from Sivakasi on February 7. He will be visiting 17 more municipal corporations till February 15.
Nomination process comes to end
Chennai: On the last day for filing of nominations for the urban local body elections on Friday, several candidates filed their papers at the offices of Assistant Returning Officers across the city. While only one person is allowed to accompany the candidates to file nomination due to Covid-19 restrictions, crowds were witnessed in all the zonal offices. According to the State Election Commission’s website, 2,134 candidates have filed nominations in 200 wards in the city. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on Saturday. The candidates can withdraw the nomination till February 7 and election will be held on February 19. Meanwhile, the Chennai Corporation has appointed three IAS officers as observers for north, south and central regions. It has also appointed a zonal observer for each zone as per the advice of the State Election Commission.