Tamil Nadu local body polls: PM Modi commends elected BJP members, welcomes first-timers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members who won seats at the recently held Tamil Nadu local body polls. PM Modi also assured the people of the state that the party will continue to work for their betterment. PM Modi posted the tweet as a response to BJP’s state president K Annamalai's post regarding a meeting conducted for the party's elected candidates.

PM Modi acknowledged that they included eight first-time union councillors, 41 village panchayat presidents, out of whom most of them appeared in the meeting for the first time. There were also 332 ward members. PM Modi took to Twitter and wrote, 'I would like to congratulate our fellow Karyakartas who have been elected in the Tamil Nadu local body polls. I thank the sisters and brothers of Tamil Nadu who reposed their faith in us.” He added, “We will keep working for the betterment of the wonderful state of Tamil Nadu.'

BJP candidate’s ill-fated election result

BJP candidate D.Karthik contested for the post of a ward member in Periyanaickenpalayam union in Coimbatore district but found out after the counting that he just received one vote in his name. This incident is even more intriguing considering that D.Karthik has a family with five eligible voters.

The local polls across Tamil Nadu were conducted in two phases, with the first phase taking place on October 6 and the second phase on October 9. The polls were conducted in nine different districts of Tamil Nadu, namely– Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruppatur, Tirunelveli, Villupuram and Kallakurichi. The ruling party, DMK and their main electoral rivals, AIADMK were the major competitors. However, PMK, BJP and others also had fielded candidates.

During the election, voter turnout was 77.4% in the first phase and 78.5% in the second phase. According to the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, Villupuram witnessed the maximum voter turnout of 83.6% and Tirunelveli the lowest of 65%. Other districts like Kallakurichi saw 82%, Ranipet saw 75.3%, Thirupathur saw 73.5%, Kancheepuram saw 72%, Chengalpattu and Tenkasi 70% each, respectively, and Vellore registered 68%.