BJP candidate D Karthik secures just 1 vote in Tamil Nadu local body polls

In the recently held local body polls in Tamil Nadu, a candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party stood out, and no, the reason is not that he received the maximum number of votes, as people may be guessing! BJP candidate D.Karthik, who had contested the post of a ward member in Periyanaickenpalayam union in Coimbatore district, got just one vote in his name. What is all the more surprising is that D.Karthik belongs to a family comprising of five eligible voters. 

The local polls in Tamil Nadu were held in two phases- the first phase took place on October 6, while the second phase took place on October 9.The polls were held in nine districts of Tamil Nadu – Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruppatur, Tirunelveli, Villupuram and Kallakurichi. While the ruling DMK and the main Opposition, AIADMK are the key competitors, PMK, BJP, and other parties had also fielded candidates. 

BJP candidate gets one vote in Tamil Nadu local polls

Since the time it has come to light that D.Karthik from the BJP has secured one vote, the hashtag 'Single_Vote_BJP' has been trending on the microblogging site Twitter. Using the hashtag, the Twitteratis are leaving no stone underturned to troll D.Karthik as well the BJP. While one user questioned the candidate's family members not voting for him, and said, "Even BJP candidates families in TN know voting for them is useless", one other mocked BJP's 'one nation, one election' demand, and said, "One Nation! One Election!! One Religion !! One Vote!!!"

This, in spite of the voter turnout being 77.4% in the first phase and 78.5% in the second phase. As per Tamil Nadu State Election Commission, Villupuram witnessed a maximum voter turnout of 83.6% and Tirunelveli the lowest of 65%. While Kallakurichi saw 82%, Ranipet saw 75.3%, Thirupathur saw 73.5%, Kancheepuram saw 72%, Chengalpattu and Tenkasi 70 each, respectively, and Vellore registered 68%.

From the statistics at present, DMK is leading in almost all areas of the rural local body elections in Tamil Nadu for which the counting is underway. 

IMAGE: Twitter/@CBENAKKALS