Ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies Congress, Pattali Makkal Katchi, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India swept the civic polls in Tamil Nadu by capturing five municipal corporations in five major cities and winning majority of seats in 152 other municipalities.
The DMK-led alliance was also way ahead of their main rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the poll to town panchayats and panchayat union councils, reports reaching Chennai on Wednesday night said.
The alliance captured civic bodies in Madurai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Salem, and Tiruchirappalli.
The DMK-led Democratic Progressive Alliance is also set to capture over 80 first grade municipalities and 40 third grade municipalities, the reports said.
The counting of votes for Chennai Municipal Corporation will take place on October 20 as per the Madras High Court order. During the 2001 civic polls, DMK had won the mayoral posts in Chennai and Madurai, for which direct elections were held.
While the erstwhile Tamil Manila Congress, which was in alliance with AIADMK then, had won the mayoral post of Tiruchirappalli, AIADMK had bagged the mayoral posts in other corporations at that time.
The AIADMK, which had put up a creditable performance by winning 61 seats in the May assembly polls, came out with a dismal performance in the civic polls. According to reports reaching the state Election Commission office, AIADMK could win only in 10 municipalities this time.
The DMK and its allies made deep inroads into AIADMK bastions of Coimbatore, Tuticorin and Theni districts where the party had fared well during the assembly polls. The AIADMK's traditional vote banks in the rural areas of the state seems to have gone in favour of the DMK-led DPA as the alliance won in most of the panchayat union wards. The ruling alliance won majority in all the 29 district panchayats.
