BJP rejoices vote share despite defeat in Tamil Nadu urban local body polls

State BJP president K Annamalai congratulated the DMK on winning the polls across corporations, municipalities and town panchayats

By: Express Web Desk

Chennai | Updated: February 24, 2022 09:31 AM IST

4 min read

Annamalai claims that the BJP has become the third biggest party in Tamil Nadu based on the number of areas they won and the overall vote share (File)

Moments after the results of the Tamil Nadu urban local body polls were announced and although the DMK won majority of the seats, state BJP president K Annamalai Tuesday said his party has registered a remarkable victory and it has reached places where it didn’t have representations before.

“The expectation with which we had announced that we will contest alone in the polls has been fulfilled. In many places, BJP candidates have lost the victory by very few votes. The work that will be exhibited by the BJP candidates who had won in this election will serve as an example for candidates of other parties,” he said.

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Annamalai also congratulated the DMK on winning the polls across corporations, municipalities and town panchayats and said his party will co-operate with them to do service to the people.

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He further claimed that the BJP has become the third biggest party in Tamil Nadu based on the number of areas they won and the overall vote share.

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“The results in the urban polls show that the people of Tamil Nadu have completely accepted the BJP and they are ready to travel alongside us,” he said.

Explained | DMK’s landslide victory in urban local body polls

He added, “Even in places where we couldn’t win, we have got a significant vote share. In the Kongu belt, BJP has got more than 12 per cent vote share and in the Coimbatore Corporation, we have got 15 per cent.”

“I have no doubt that the upcoming days will be in favour of BJP,” he said.

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When asked whether BJP will continue their approach of contesting alone in all future polls, Annamalai said, “There is no confusion in their National Democratic Alliance for the 2024 polls.”

Annamalai also said, “The DMK has won in the Kongu region purely due to arithmetic difference. If AIADMK and BJP join together, especially in the Kongu region, they receive more votes. I am not seeing this as a setback. Just because they have won this time doesn’t mean Kongu has completely gone in favour of them. When we (AIADMK and BJP) contest together, the Kongu region will be our fortress, it will never be their fortress,” he said.

Annamalai further noted that just because of one bad performance, one cannot rule out a party like AIADMK.

Taking a dig at Chief Minister M K Stalin’s remark that the poll results are a recognition for the Dravidian model, the BJP leader said Stalin should clarify whether the Dravidian model is a family-based dynasty model of development or the one that gives cash and gift items in exchange of votes. He added that the BJP won because of the Modi model of development.

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In the recently-concluded urban local body polls, the BJP won 22 wards in the corporations, 56 in the municipalities and 230 in the town panchayats.

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