CHENNAI: Corporation indirect election postponed

By G Saravanan

Published in The New Indian Express, Chennai on May 25, 2011:

Source:http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/corporation-indirect-election-poseponed/277516.html

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation will have to function without the chairmen for the zonal committees of Zone 9 and 10 and the chairman for the Standing Committee for Town Planning for the last five months of its current term. The indirect election to the posts, which was slated for May 31, has been postponed.

Though, it would affect the day-to-day functioning of the civic body, Corporation sources told City Express that the notification for the election that was issued on May 20 after due permission was got from the State Election Commission. However, the Commissioner cancelled the previous notification after he received another letter from the Commission asking him to postpone the elections.

The reason for the postponement was attributed to the final stages of the incumbent Corporation Council, which would be demitting their office by October, barely five months from now after completing a five year tenure.

Besides, the civic body would be having about three monthly sittings in the coming months. Because the notification for the local body polls is expected by the first week of September.

These three posts fell vacant in March when the sitting members resigned from their seats to contest the state Assembly Elections.

While K Dhanasekaran of DMK, representing Ward 130 and the chairman of Zone 9 Committee, contested from Virugambakam constituency, PMK’s two councillors, M Jayaraman, Ward 142 councillor and Chairman of Zone 10, and R Prakash Ward 125 and chairman of Standing Committee (Town Planning), contested the elections from Velachery and Mayilam constituencies respectively. It may be noted that all of them lost to their rival candidates. Another DMK councillor, M Maheshkumar, representing Ward 139, had also resigned along with them and unsuccessfully contested from the Saidapet constituency.

Leaving aside the vacancy of four seats in the Chennai Corporation council, the DMK has 91 members, Congress has 35, PMK 13 and DMDK has four. The Communist Party of India has two members in the 155-member Council while two independents have been elected as well. Besides, Bahujan Samaj Party, CPI(M), MGR Kazhagam and Tamil Maanila Desiya League have one member each.

Though the AIADMK had won four seats during the 2006 Chennai Corporation elections, two members had resigned from their seats immediately after the elections to show their displeasure over the alleged massive rigging and booth capturing by the DMK.Later on, AIADMK party supremo Jayalalithaa had expelled the two other councillors for anti-party activities and they switched loyalties to ruling DMK.