COIMBATORE: Retaining its magical spell over the voters of eight districts in Western Tamil Nadu, the AIADMK scored impressive victories in the civic polls on Friday further cementing the view that the region is the party’s fortress.Not only did the ruling party’s Mayoral candidates win with huge margins in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Salem Municipal Corporations, but the AIADMK also bagged 20 out of the total 27 Municipality Chairperson’s posts in the region.Its principal rival DMK could manage to win just three Municipal Chairman’s post - Valparai (Coimbatore), Punjaipuliampatti (Erode) and Nellipalayam (Nigiris). The BJP (Mettupalayam) and DMDK (Palladam) each bagged a Municipality Chairman’s post and in two Municipalities (Komarapalayam and Narasingapuram) Independent candidates including an AIADMK rebel romped home. That the AIADMK managed to single-handedly score such huge victories only shows the unflinching rapport it has established with the people of the region. Even in the Assembly elections, the voters in the region have largely backed the AIADMK since 1977, barring once in 1996. It appears that the AIADMK general secretary and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s last minute decision to hit the campaign trail in the region has helped to swing the mood further in the party’s favour.In contrast, the DMK had left the campaign to its district leaders some of whom like Pongalur Palanisamy (Coimbatore) were so busy fighting their own personal land grab cases that the voters never got to see their faces. As for Town Panchayats, except in Namakkal where the DMK gave a tough fight by winning seven posts of Chairperson leaving only nine to the ruling party, the AIADMK established its supremacy in the Town Panchayats of other districts.In Coimbatore, its Chairperson candidates won in 24 out of the 37 Town Panchayats (election to the Karumathampatti TP was countermanded); in Nilgiris (8 out of 11); Tirupur (14 out of 16); Erode (30 out of 42); Salem (19 out of 33); Dharmapuri (7 out of 10); and Krishnagiri (5 out 6). Significantly in Coimbatore the number of Independents (6) elected as Town Panchayat Chairpersons was higher than that of the DMK (5).Similarly, in Erode and Salem, the DMK and Independent candidates had won in five Town Panchayats each. While the Congress won one Town Panchayat Chairman post each in Coimbatore, Erode, Salem and Krishnagiri; the PMK won one each in Dharmapuri and Salem, MDMK one in Erode, and the DMDK two in Salem and one in Namakkal. The AIADMK candidates had emerged victorious in most of the wards in the Corporations, Municipalities, Town Panchayats and Panchayat Union.
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