Fed up with politicos, civil society fields 3 women in Chennai wards

V Kamatchi, well known in the locality as Kamatchi Patti, is among the three fielded by SPARK. Kamatchi, 94-year-old activist and co-founder of civil society, is also the oldest candidate in the fray in city. While Kamatchi is contesting in ward 174, the other two, Meera Ravikumar and Priya Rajasekar, are contesting from ward 173 and 179 respectively.

Dr TD Babu, the founder of SPARK, said the councillor post is very powerful as no project can be carried out in any ward without their approval. “However, our councillors only try to benefit contractors belonging to their parties and are concerned about the growth of their parties. We’ve lost trust in them,” he said.

He claimed all three have worked in various civic issues including waste management and women empowerment.

He said the society is pinning its hopes on the educated voters who abstain from voting, “as they can make a change”.

“Even in Smart City projects, there were no consultations with residents. We do not know whether we win or lose, but we are making a statement,” he said.

Oozing optimism, Kamatchi said if she wins, she could get respect from the officials because of her age, which can be leveraged to solve civic issues. “We want to prove that polls can be won without extravagant spending. I wanted to contest for the last 10 years but could not as polls were not held,” she added.

“We want to set an example for clean governance for others to follow. Also, reiterate that people’s participation is a must to resolve civic issues,” Meera Ravikumar said.