Tamil Nadu rural polls: DMK leading in 121 district panchayats, 201 panchayat union ward seats

The counting of votes for Tamil Nadu rural body polls is currently underway and the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) took to Twitter to declare that it is ahead in 121 district panchayat ward member seats and 201 panchayat union ward member seats till 4pm. The Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSE) is likely to declare the results on Wednesday.

The DMK also tweeted to declare that “Good governance has emerged in the local government too!” after local reports claimed that the ruling party is leading in almost all the seats.

The DMK and its opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) are the two major parties in the fray for the rural body polls which took place on October 6 and 9. The AIADMK’s two allies the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chose to contest elections independently in nine districts and one district respectively.

The elections were held to elect around 10,000 officials to local governing bodies and registered a 74.37 per cent voter turnout in the first phase which was held on October 6. Whereas in the second phase polling went down slightly after 73.27 per cent of voters turned up to vote. Chennai was one of the nine districts which polled on the second day.

The AIADMK has urged the state election commission to webcast or telecast the counting of votes and to restrict access for members of Legislative Assembly (MLA), members of Parliament (MP), and other political leaders inside polling booths.