Chennai: With the Madras High Court setting 6 August as the deadline for the State Election Commission to submit the schedule for conducting Local Body Elections, all parties in the state have started to gear up to face the civic polls.
Sources said a few parties have even started talking about forging alliance. There has been no local body representative in the State for more than one-and-a–half years.
The election which was supposed to be held in October 2016 was being postponed several times due to various reasons including delimitation.
AIADMK all ready
This will be the first election the party will face after the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. Cadres are confident about fighting the polls now as they have retained the Two Leaves symbol after a legal battle. It is said all the accomplishments of the AIDMK government will be taken to the public ahead of the polls.
DMK’s strategy
DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said the party’s election campaign will focus on the various shortcomings of this government including the Chennai-Salem Eight Way lane, hike in Property Tax.
BJP’s plan:
BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan has urged the government to hold the local body election at the earliest. Addressing mediapersons yesterday at party’s headquarters, she said that several issues are not addressed due to the lack of local governing bodies. She hinted that BJP’s election committee has started discussing about forging alliance.
First time for TTV
This civic poll will also be the first test of R K Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran, who recently floated his own party AMMK. Though he has filed a petition to grant Two Leaves symbol for his party, it is speculated that he might seek the ‘cooker’ symbol in which he contested and won in RK Nagar by poll.
Star start
Speculations are rife that actors Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth will tets political waters with the local body polls. Kamal Haasan who floated his party Makkal Needhi Maiam has said that he will contest in the local body elections, Rajinikanth is yet to announce his party officially.