DMK announces candidates list for six corporations

The ruling DMK on Monday announced its candidates for six corporations and a couple of dozen municipalities and town panchayats for the February 19 urban local body elections.

Candidates were announced for Kumbakonam, Thoothukudi, Kancheepuram, Vellore, Thanjavur and Tirunelveli corporations. The first list of candidates released by the DMK high command also comprised names of several municipalities in Kancheepuram, Vellore, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts.

The ruling party, which set January 31 deadline for its district secretaries to finalise the party candidates after clinching seat sharing deal with allies, has yet to make public its candidates list for crucial corporations like Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai. If sources in the DMK are to be believed, Anna Arivalayam has turned less generous after the fracture in rival AIADMK-BJP ties earlier in the day. It has been reliably learnt that the DMK was unwilling to apportion even 10 per cent seats in Chennai Corporation.

Reliable DMK sources disclosed on condition of anonymity that the DMK was keen on contesting not less than 170 seats in the 200-ward Chennai Corporation. A few DMK district secretaries in the state capital seem to be adamant not to apportion a little more than a couple of wards to the Congress party. The DMK appears to be keen on restricting its allies to around 25 seats in the state capital.

Likewise, the divorce between AIADMK and BJP has emboldened the DMK district secretaries to play hardball with the Congress, while the other allies like Left parties, VCK and MDMK ought to be content with single digit ward allocation in most corporations.