TIRUPATHUR: Ambur municipality office witnessed chaos and confusion on Friday due to an internal issue in the DMK. The party officially announced Aajiaz Ahamed as the chairperson of Ambur municipality, but ward member Shabhir Ahamed from DMK too contested for the post.
After one vote was recorded, Aajiaz threw files in the municipality office, and alleged irregularities in election. He urged the authorities to suspend the polls, and the election was temporarily suspended for two hours.
Meanwhile, other members of the DMK, AIADMK and BJP held a sit-in protest, demanding the authorities to conduct the elections immediately. Later, due to unrest it was announced that indirect elections to elect a chairperson and deputy chairperson is suspended indefinitely.
Sources in the DMK said Shabhir got the support of party cadres and ward members, with the backing of 24 out of 36 ward members in the municipality. They alleged that Aajiaz was a proxy of wealthy tannery industrialists in the town and was chosen to lobby in their favour. “Shabir had the backing of the Ambur town DMK secretary. He’s well-known in party circles and except for three members, all others supported him. How could they choose someone worse for this post?” sources added.
The DMK ward members complained about Aajiaz to police and RDO. Meanwhile, the election for chairperson and deputy chairperson of Udhenthiram town panchayat in Tirupathur was suspended indefinitely on Friday because of violence allegedly by the DMK members. The unrest started after Maheswari, who won in Ward 3 on DMK ticket, filed nomination for the chairperson post against the party’s official candidate - Poosarani.
DMK members opposedand also allegedly broke CCTV camera and other valuables in town panchayat office. They protested on the road condemning this. Police dispersed the protest with lathi charge. Sources from the DMK alleged Maheswari was lured in by the AIADMK by promising the top post to her.
Sangeetha Venkatesan and Sabiullah from the DMK was elected as the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Tirupathur municipality respectively. Kaviya and Indira were the chairperson and deputy chairperson respectively in the Jolarpet municipality.