In an unexpected move, the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday, cleared a proposal to hold indirect elections in the state to posts of Corporation Mayors and Chairpersons of Municipalities and panchayats. Sources in the AIADMK say that ordinance regarding the elections will be passed this week in an Assembly session.
This decision from the ruling AIADMK comes just a fortnight ahead of the announcement of dates for the local body polls. When passed, the ordinance will apply to 15 corporations, 121 municipalities and 528 town panchayats. For the last three years, Tamil Nadu has not held local body elections. The delay according to the government was due to a delimitation process that was underway in the state.
Even as late as October, the state government had maintained that direct elections will be held for the Mayoral post. This after Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had in January 2018 reverted to holding direct elections for the Mayoral and Chairperson posts. In the last two decades the DMK and AIADMK have constantly changed the method of choosing a Mayor alternating between direct and indirect elections. In indirect elections, the elected councillors will vote to select a candidate for the Mayoral post.
AIADMK had even collected applications from members this year for Mayoral and Chairperson posts. The reason for the abrupt change, according to AIADMK sources, is the government's fear of losing the Mayoral elections.
"Councillor elections are easier to win with our local influence," says an AIADMK source. "But when it comes to the post of Mayor, we have a very small chance of being victorious. In a city like Chennai, we can't control what happens and if the elected Mayor is anti-AIADMK it will be problematic. We can't even remove the Mayor because the person will sit in that seat compulsorily for five years. This way, after we have sizeable councillors we can ensure that the Mayor is filled in a manner that won't adversely affect the party," he adds.
The DMK, meanwhile, has expressed discontent over the last minute decision and points out that it reeks of a larger conspiracy.
"From what we can see, the AIADMK is clearly not confident of winning the Mayoral elections, which is why they are doing this," says A Saravanan, a spokesperson from DMK. "They will use money and muscle power to influence the councillor elections but you can't do the same for Mayoral elections. It is difficult to manipulate," he alleges.
Incidentally, in 2006, when the DMK came to power, the party introduced indirect elections, reverting to the 1973 poll practice. M Subramanian, a DMK leader was elected by councillors.
In 2011, the rules were changed by the AIADMK to allow direct elections and Saidai Duraisamy became the Mayor. But in 2016, when Jayalalithaa was re-elected, the then Chief Minister chose to conduct indirect elections for the post. But this was changed once more in 2018 by the Edappadi Palaniswami-led government after she passed away, only to be made indirect again, weeks ahead of the election announcement.