NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, FEB 20
Tamil Nadu registered a poll percentage of 60.70 in the February 19 urban local bodies election that witnessed an interesting multi-cornered contest with the constituents of the opposition AIADMK alliance contesting on their respective party’s own strengths, rather than remaining together, against the DMK combine.
Among the 21 corporations, which went to polls, the Greater Chennai Corporation registered the lowest turnout of 43.59 percent while Karur polled the maximum of 75.84 percent on Saturday, according to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC).
The single-phase election was held to fill up 12,838 posts in 21 corporations, 138 municipalities, 490 town panchayats and 649 urban local bodies in the state. A total of 74,416 candidates, including many independents entered the fray.
Among the municipalities, Dharmapuri registered an impressive turnout of 81.37 percent and Nilgiris recorded the lowest voter turnout of 59.98 percent, the SEC said. On the whole, the town panchayats and municipalities recorded a good voter turnout of 74.68 percent and 68.22 percent respectively, while the highly urbanised corporations saw a low turnout of 52.22 percent.
The electoral fortunes of the candidates of various political parties and independents, as well, will be known on February 22 when the SEC takes up the counting of votes.
The local body elections in TN were held after more than a decade. The polls were last conducted in 2011 when the AIADMK was in power in the state.
