CHENNAI: About 19.2 per cent of nominations were withdrawn in the urban local body elections. The share of withdrawals was more compared to the rural body elections held in December 2019 and October last year. After the withdrawals, 57,778 candidates are in the fray for the polls to be held on February 19 for filling 12,607 posts in 21 corporations, 138 municipalities and 489 town panchayats.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission announced that 218 candidates have been elected ‘unopposed’ to the posts of ward members. Of these, 196 were to town panchayats, 18 to municipalities and four to Corporations.
Official sources confirmed that more than 60 per cent of these posts were won by DMK candidates. However, the State Election Commission maintained that the list of winners will be released only after the completion of vote counting.
In December 2019 during rural local body elections conducted in the AIADMK regime, eight per cent of candidates withdrew their nominations. The figure rose to 15 per cent last October when the elections were conducted in nine newly-created districts, revealed data.
74,416 candidates filed papers; 2,062 rejected
According to an official note from the SESEC, 74,416 candidates filed nominations in 12,738 wards in 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, and 490 town panchayats. Of this, 2,062 were rejected and 14,324 withdrew nominations. The poor performance of the smaller parties in the 2019 rural civic polls and the eight-cornered contest this year are the reasons for the high number of withdrawals, some contestants alleged.
“Barring PMK, none of the five smaller parties have a significant grassroot-level presence. I was asked to withdraw by DMK and AIADMK,” said a contestant. NTK, MNM, AMMK, DMDK and PMK, faced the polls on their own in October. PMK won 47 member posts but the rest drew a blank.