DMK allies contesting separately in urban polls in Kanniyakumari district

While CPI-M and Congress are allies of the DMK since the 2019 general elections in Tamil Nadu and are continuing across the state, in Kanniyakumari district the parties are contesting separately in several seats in the urban local body elections to be held on February 19.

The CPI-M, which has a good strength across the district, is contesting alone in several seats in Western Kanniyakumari district. Party district secretary, R. Chellaswamy while speaking to IANS said, "Yes, we are contesting alone in some seats in Kanniyakumari district as we were not allocated seats according to our strength. We have to be justifiable to our cadres and hence we decided to go it alone. We are sure of winning the seats we contest."

Interestingly the CPI-M is part of the DMK-led alliance in the Colachil municipality of Kanniyakumari district while it is contesting alone in other municipalities in the district. In the newly formed Nagercoil Municipal corporation elections also the CPI-M is contesting alone.

The CPI-M Kanniyakumari district secretary said that the party is contesting 32 wards in Kollencode municipality out of the total 33 wards and all the 21 wards in Kuzhithurai municipality.

He also said that the CPI-M candidates are contesting alone in seven wards in Padmanabhapuram municipality. It may be noted that Nagercoil Corporation, Kollencode, and Kuzhithurai are regions bordering Kerala and hence the CPI-M has strength in these areas.

Interestingly, another ally of the DMK, the Congress has also fielded candidates on its own for 19 wards in Kuzhithurai, 32 in Kollencode, and 11 in Padmanabhapuram.

The Kanniyakumari district president of the Congress party, V.M. Binulal Singh while speaking to IANS said, "Congress is contesting alone in several seats in Kanniyakumari district and this is due to the differences in seat sharing. The DMK local leaders were adamant that we are not given seats in some of these constituencies and Congress need not play second fiddle to any party. Hence, we fielded our own candidates."

However, the DMK leadership of Kanniyakumari district is confident that the party would win in Nagercoil corporation, all municipalities, and town panchayats in the elections. The party local leadership is of the opinion that the exceptional performance of the M.K. Stalin-led DMK government in the past nine months since assuming office in May 2021 is a major catalyst for the popularity of the DMK.