CHENNAI: The urban local body elections of Tamil Nadu scheduled to be held in February 2022 will be a direct fight between coalitions led by DMK and AIADMK.
While the DMK coalition is intact in the Assembly and rural body elections, in the urban polls just like the rural local body elections, AIADMK is affected by the PMK not being part of the coalition.
The state government has sprung a surprise by announcing two major posts of Chennai Mayor and that of Tambaram Mayor being reserved for Scheduled Caste women. However, with the election to the Mayor posts being indirect, with the councilors only electing the Mayor, the candidate will be from the winning coalition and not from outside.
The DMK-led coalition comprising Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), CPM, CPI, MDMK, IUML, and other fringe political parties under the umbrella of Secular Progressive Alliance( SPA) has an edge over the AIADMK-led alliance.
The NDA coalition of AIADMK which contested the 2021 Assembly elections does not have Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) of the powerful Vanniyar community in its fold. The AIADMK coalition has AIADMK, BJP, Tamil Manila Congress, and some other small parties.
However, the PMK did not contest the rural local body elections of 2021 to the nine districts of TN in alliance with the AIADMK and decided to go it alone stating that there was no time left for seat-sharing arrangements.
PMK founder leader Dr. S. Ramadoss has already announced that the party would contest along in the urban local body elections and came out strongly against the decision to reserve Chennai and Tambaram corporation Mayor post for Scheduled Caste women.
The PMK has already altered the constitution of the party and is planning to lead a coalition by the next Assembly elections and to form the government. It is planning to forge alliances with fringe political parties that have a say at the local level in some constituencies.
The Naam Tamilar Katchi of actor, the director-turned-politician Seeman is one party that has welcomed the decision to reserve the Chennai and Tambaram corporation Mayor post for Scheduled Caste women candidates.
NTK may ally with the PMK and other small parties in the future to provide a challenge to both the DMK and the AIADMK led coalitions.