Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin. (File)Tamil Nadu rural local body poll results Highlights: The ruling DMK and its alliance is set to register a sweeping victory in rural local body elections held in nine districts – in an ostensible boost to Chief Minister M K Stalin’s image of a “good governance” delivery. With a little more than 70 per cent of votes counted till late Tuesday evening, DMK was leading in nearly 1,100 seats of the total 1,381 panchayat union wards and all of the 140 district panchayat wards, indicating a likely victory of the ruling alliance. Votes were being counted at 74 counting centres under CCTV surveillance from Tuesday morning.
The main parties contesting the elections are the ruling DMK and its principal opposition AIADMK. The Left parties who are part of the DMK-led alliance are contesting alone in several districts. The Pattali Makkal Katchi is contesting on its own in all nine districts, and the BJP is contesting alone in the Kallakurichi district.
Meanwhile, The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for developing a multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore in Mappedu village in neighbouring Tiruvallur district. The project, which will come up on 158 acres, is the first such one to be established in the State and it will facilitate employment opportunities to about 10,000 youths, Chief Minister M K Stalin, in whose presence the MoU was signed, said.
Claiming that the law and order situation in Tamil Nadu was ‘worsening’, the BJP state unit on Tuesday requested the state Governor RN Ravi to “instruct” the ruling DMK to focus on controlling the situation. A delegation of BJP leaders, led by its state unit president K Annamalai, met Ravi and handed over a petition, highlighting some recent “disturbing events”, including the killing of a woman college student here and the beheading of a woman in Dindigul district.
Tamil Nadu added 1,280 new Covid-19 infections, pushing the caseload to 26,82,137, the health department said.
As many as 19 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the toll to 35,833, a bulletin said.
Recoveries outnumbered new cases with 1,453 people discharged in the last 24 hours, aggregating to 26,30,654, leaving 15,650 active infections.
The fresh cases included a returnee from the United Arab Emirates.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin launched the preliminary work to melt into 24 carat gold bars, the unutilised jewellery in the possession of the temples in the State.
Initially, the gold ornaments lying unutilised at the three renowned temples of Sri Karumariamman temple in Tiruverkadu, Sri Mariamman temple in Samayapuram and Sri Mariamman temple at Irukkankudi, will be melted and converted into gold bars for monetisation.
The funds raised by depositing the gold bars in nationalised banks would be used for the development of the temples under the ambit of the State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) department, the government said. (PTI)
The cybercrime wing of the central crime branch (CCB) arrested a man for allegedly cheating people through online gambling, including betting on cricket matches. The cops have seized assets including a car, cash worth Rs 24.68 lakh, 193 gram gold, 6 kg silver, 10 cell phones, a laptop and an iPad from the accused.
The accused, identified as Hari Krishnan, is a resident of Kilpauk and he was hiding in a hotel near Mahabalipuram. The police said he had cheated at least 30 people.
The Tamil Nadu rural local body election has provided the much-needed booster for actor Vijay’s fans who are awaiting their leader’s political entry. The members associated with Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, (VMI) the fan club of the actor, have won more than 100 seats in the polls.
The performance comes as a surprise in the state’s political arena as even the veteran actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s party Makkal Needhi Maiam or filmmaker-politician Seeman’s Naam’s Tamizhar Katchi failed to open their accounts.
The VMI members have put out a significant performance across all the nine districts, especially in Kallakurichi, Kancheepuram, Villupuram.
Bussy N Anand, the general-secretary of the party, said a total of 169 candidates contested in the election and 121 of them have won.
A 40-year old female elephant died in the Burgur forest due to ailments, officials said on Wednesday. Forest department officials along with a veterinary doctor visited the spot after members of the public noticed a pachyderm in a deep pit in the Kovilnatham Ongepallam area in Burgur Forest Range and informed them. After examination, the veterinary doctor declared that the elephant had died due to age and ailment, slipped into a deep pit and died. No foul play is suspected, the Forest officials said. Forest department personnel arranged for the disposal of the carcass. (PTI)
The Tamil Nadu government will soon constitute the Press Council, as directed by the Madras High Court, to weed out fake journalists, State Information and Publicity Minister M P Swaminathan said on Wednesday. The court had in August directed to constitute the Council headed by a retired judge within 90 days and the government is taking steps to form the same, Swaminathan told reporters in Coimbatore.
The council will solve all the problems being faced by the journalist community, he said, adding that steps were taken to provide houses to journalists through the Housing board. On DMK sweeping the local body polls across the State, he said that this was a reflection of people's acceptance to the various schemes being implemented by Chief Minister M K Stalin.
Earlier, Swaminathan inaugurated a permanent photo exhibition on the premises of the district Collectorate and also reviewed the safety and other equipment utilised for disaster management as part of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2021. CPI(M) MP P R Natarajan, district Collector G M Sameeran, Corporation Commissioner Raja Gopal Sunkara and Information Department Director Jayasheelan were among those present at the event. (PTI)
The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rainfall and thunderstorm in parts of Tamil Nadu for the next four days. In Chennai, the sky condition is likely to be generally cloudy, IMD said. The weather agency has predicted thunderstorm with light rain is likely to occur in some areas in Chennai and the maximum and minimum temperature will be around 34 ?C and 26 ?C respectively.
The department said that for the next 48 hours, strong wind speed reaching 45-55 kmph is likely to prevail over southwest Bay of Bengal, Gulf of Mannar and Comorin area. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into these sea areas during the period mentioned above.
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A BJP youth wing leader who contested as an independent candidate in the Tamil Nadu rural local body polls at Kurudampalayam panchayat in Coimbatore district got only one vote, triggering ridicule. Even though D Karthik was contesting for ward councillor not as a BJP candidate, the party was also the butt of the jokes on social media with #Single_Vote_BJP, #onevote trending on Twitter.
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Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Poyyamozhi Mahesh Tuesday announced that there will be no quarterly or half-yearly examinations for students of classes 10-12 this academic year. The minister made the announcement at a review meeting with the Chief and District Education Officers, and said the state government was considering the possibility of keeping a combined mock exam in December, ahead of the board exams in March 2022.
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A division bench of the Madras High Court has confirmed an order of a single judge upholding the show cause notices (SCNs) issued to thousands of staff members of the Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu to downgrade their salaries. The bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and Krishnan Ramaswamy upheld the order dated March 5, 2019 of the single judge while dismissing a batch of over 400 writ appeals recently.
Pursuant to a proposal of the government to take over Annamalai University, located at Chidambaram in Cuddalore district and a resolution dated February 8, 2017, all the employees of the varsity were served with the notices, calling upon them to explain as to why their pay scales should not be downgraded.
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The Chennai Metro Rail Services (CMRL) Tuesday announced that on account of continuous holidays, the train services will be extended on today (13.10.2021) till 12:00 midnight to assist passengers travelling out of city. The evening peak hour service with 5 minute headway from 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm has been extended to 10:00 pm, CMRL said in a press release.
In addition, Metro Train Services have been extended from 10:00 pm to 12:00 midnight with 15 minute headway. The above Metro Train extension is for today (13-10-2021) only.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday granted liberty to the Tamil Nadu government to decide on keeping the temples open on Friday on which Vijayadasami falls. Shrines in the state are closed on Friday, Saturday and Sunday in view of the covid pandemic situation. The vacation bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Abdul Quddhose said this when a PIL petition praying for a direction to the government to keep the temples in the state open on the auspicious Vijayadasami day, came up on Tuesday.
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Veteran Tamil actor Srikanth, who made his debut along with the late J Jayalalithaa in the 1965 classic 'Vennira Adai' died here on Tuesday, film industry sources said. The 82 year-old actor died due to old age, they said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin condoled the demise of the actor.
In his 40-year career, Srikanth had acted as hero and villain, besides featuring in many character roles as well. 'Vennira Adai' (The white cloth) was directed by late veteran C V Sridhar. The actor is known for his many supporting roles in films starring top stars of Tamil cinema, including the late Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. (PTI)
The Madras High Court was informed on Tuesday that melting of gold jewellery belonging to the temples in Tamil Nadu was not a new phenomenon. It was being done from 1977 and as much as five lakh grams of gold jewellery had been melted, Advocate-General R Shanmugasundaram told a vacation bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Abdul Quddhose, when the PIL petitions challenging the September 9 and 22 notifications of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department came up for hearing today.
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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was carrying out searches in the houses of suspected supporters of Maoists here and nearby Pollachi, police said on Tuesday. According to police, NIA sleuths conducted the searches at the house of Dinesh, a dentist who was arrested by the Kerala Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in February last for his suspected Maoist connections and lodged in a prison in the neighbouring state since then.
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The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for developing a multi-modal logistics park (MMLP) at an investment of Rs 1,200 crore in Mappedu village in neighbouring Tiruvallur district. The project, which will come up on 158 acres, is the first such one to be established in the State and it will facilitate employment opportunities to about 10,000 youths, Chief Minister M K Stalin, in whose presence the MoU was signed, said.
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The ruling DMK and its alliance is set to register a sweeping victory in rural local body elections held in nine districts – in an ostensible boost to Chief Minister M K Stalin’s image of a “good governance” delivery.
With a little more than 70 per cent of votes counted till late Tuesday evening, DMK was leading in nearly 1,100 seats of the total 1,381 panchayat union wards and all of the 140 district panchayat wards, indicating a likely victory of the ruling alliance. Votes were being counted at 74 counting centres under CCTV surveillance from Tuesday morning.
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Latest update:
District panchayat wards: Out of 140 seats, DMK leading in 88, AIADMK in two, others 1
Panchayat union wards: Out of 1,381 seats, DMK leading in 353, AIADMK in 59, others in 37
According to media reports, a candidate, allegedly belonging to BJP, has secured just one vote in the rural local body elections held in the district on October 9, counting for which is underway in Tamil Nadu. D Karthik, who contested from the Kurudampalayam panchayat of Coimbatore district managed to secure only one vote, as per reports.
However, reacting to the media reports, Karthik said that his family's vote was in another ward and therefore they could not vote for him.
People patiently wait outside a counting centre near Tambaram
According to official Twitter handle of ruling DMK, the party is leading in 121 District Panchayat ward member seats, 201 Panchayat Union ward member seats asper the 4pm update.
The DMK has claimed that the party is leading in 121 seats in District Panchayat Ward member election and in 194 seaats in the Panchayat Union ward member election.
According to local media updates:
Panchayat Union ward members - Of the 1,381 seats, DMK leads in 144 seats, AIADMK leads in 16 seats, others - 15
District Panchayat Ward member - Of the 140 seats, DMK leads in 58 seats, AIADMK leads in three seats
As per local reports, DMK is leading in almost all areas. In panchayat Union ward, DMk is leading on 75 seats, while AIADMK on 8 seats. While in District Panchayat ward, of the total 140 seats, DMK is leading on 43 seats, while AIADMK on five.
The counting of votes for the casual elections to fill vacant posts in 28 districts is also taking place simultaneously. According to the officials, 70.51 per cent polling was recorded in casual elections.
The election results will be updated on the website of the state election commission.
At a counting centre in Marakanam town in Villupuram district, a scuffle broke out between the police personnel and some booth agents who said they were allegedly not allowed inside as they came late.
The rural local body polls will fill 23,978 posts. The first phase on October 6 saw 77.43 per cent polling and the second phase on October 9, 78.47 per cent polling. The first phase was to elect 78 district panchayat ward members, 755 panchayat union ward members, 1,577 village panchayat presidents, and 12,252 panchayat ward members.
The ballot boxes kept in the strongrooms of the centres were opened in front of the district collector and concerned candidate agents. Personnel with specified ID proofs are only allowed inside the voting counter premies. Police personnel are deployed around the counting centres, barricades have been erected 1 km from the centre.
Meanwhile, a reporter and his crew members of a popular Tamil news channel were reportedly attacked at a polling booth in Ramalai near Vellore district by the agents and locals when they were covering the final stages of the polling. The Chennai Press Club has condemned the incident and demanded the government to arrest those responsible at the earliest.
The residents of Ammundi village panchayat near Katpadi in Vellore district reportedly boycotted the polls as the village panchayat was reserved for SC candidates this year. There are about 2,049 voters in this village and as many as five polling booths were set up. However, residents neither turned up for voting, nor did they apply for the rest of the posts. They had staged a protest earlier in September demanding the government to reclassify the village panchayat into a general local body, claiming that the majority of their residents don’t belong to Dalit or Scheduled Caste community. Few people even hoisted black flags in front of their residences in protest against the polls.
According to EC, while Kancheepuram witnessed a voter turnout of 80 per cent, Chengalpet saw 67 per cent, Villupuram 81.36 per cent, Kallakurichi 72 per cent, Vellore 67 per cent, Ranipet 81 per cent, Tirupathur 78 per cent, Tirunelveli 69 per cent and Tenkasi 74 per cent.
The main parties contesting the elections are the ruling DMK and its principal opposition AIADMK. The Left parties who are part of the DMK-led alliance are contesting alone in several districts. The Pattali Makkal Katchi is contesting on its own in all nine districts, and the BJP is contesting alone in the Kallakurichi district.
The state administration has deployed 31,245 officials for counting and over 6,200 police personnel for security arrangements. CCTV surveillance have also been put in place. Also, as many as 23,998 posts are expected to be filled.
The election was held in Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tenkasi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruppatur, Tirunelveli, Villupuram, and Kallakuruchi.
Voting was overall peaceful in both phases with a few instances of boycott, delay in polling, and violence being recorded in some of the districts in the first phase and a minor incident of stabbing in Vellore in the second phase. In the first phase, 79,433 candidates were in fray for 23,998 posts and the polls were held to elect 78 district panchayat ward members, 755 panchayat union ward members, 1,577 village panchayat presidents, and 12,252 panchayat ward members. While the second phase was held in nine districts to elect about 10,000 posts.
The first phase of the polls witnessed a voter turnout of 74.37 per cent, while a voting percentage of 73.27 per cent (approximately) was registered in the second phase.
Hello and welcome to our Tamil Nadu rural local body poll results Live blog. The counting of votes for rural local body polls, held in two phases in Tamil Nadu on October 6 and October 9, commenced at 74 centres in 9 districts on Tuesday morning. Follow to get all the latest updates here