R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, JAN 2
A transwoman, students and elderly women were among the successful candidates who fought the 27 and 30 December polls to rural civic bodies in Tamil Nadu. Counting of ballots for thousands of civic posts in 27 districts began this morning at 8 hours and it continues to be on and results have started trickling in from a number of regions. The results are expected to be out on Friday morning.
Though, the initial trends saw a see-saw battle between DMK and AIADMK, the DMK is leading in both Panchayat Unions and District Panchayats around 10.30 p.m. on Friday night.
Out of the total number of 5,067 Panchayat Union, DMK-led alliance is sitting on top with 1,135 places. In 515 District Panchayats, the DMK-led alliance is leading in 166 places. With the counting process underway, both the AIADMK and DMK leaders engaged in a meeting with their executives at their party headquarters.
Riya, a 30-year old transwoman of the DMK was declared elected union councillor in Namakkal district’s Tiruchengode Panchayat Union. She is the first transwoman to win a local body election in Tamil Nadu on the ticket of a recognised political party, according to local officials.
“I want to thank DMK chief MK Stalin who believed in me and gave me an opportunity to contest at Tiruchengode Union. Of the 4,693, I got 2,701 votes in the second ward Karuveppampetti and won with a difference of 950. This task was not easy,” said Riya, speaking to media persons.
“As a transgender, I faced several problems. Despite this, people trusted me and elected me unanimously. I assure to sort out all issues in my ward, including water scarcity, transport without discrimination,” she added.
Preethi Mohan, a 22-year old second year postgraduate student won as union councillor from Salem District’s Ayothiapattinam Panchayat Union. Sandyarani Jayasarathi, a 21-year old woman and a student was elected village panchayat president of KN Thotti in Krishnagiri district.
Several from humble background were successful, including Saraswathi, a former sanitary worker who was elected as a village panchayat president from Virudhunagar district. Also, in districts including Ramanathapuram a number of elderly women -of age ranging between 70-80- were elected to civic posts and these were allocated to women.
The election, which had been held in two phases on December 27 and 30 was conducted in rural Tamil Nadu to elect 655 district ward panchayat members, 6,471 panchayat unions ward members, 12,524 village panchayat presidents, and 99,324 village panchayat ward members.
Pranbu, brother of director Pa Ranjith has won the seat of Panchayat Union Ward Member for ward 1 in Villivakkam.
Earlier, speaking to reporters, the Tamil Nadu Election Commissioner Palanisamy said the counting of votes might take place till Friday without any break. Denying any kind of irregularities in the counting process, he said, “There are 50-60 cameras installed in each counting area, so approximately around 16,000 CCTV cameras are installed across the state. More than 1 lakh officials and around 30,354 police personnel have been involved in this counting process, we are working without favoring any party, the reports of irregularities are absolutely false. Since the counting process is lengthy, there are some practical difficulties in some places. The counting might extend till tomorrow, we will be working round the clock to finish the process as quickly as possible.”
