CHENNAI: With the BJP emerging as the third force in Chennai, questions are being raised over its impact on Chennai corporation elections. The BJP has occupied the third position in 10 out of the 16 seats in the state capital and polled 1,38,827 votes. The constituencies included Virugambakkam, where party state president Tamilisai Soundararajan got over 19,000 votes and T. Nagar where its national secretary H. Raja got almost the same number of votes.
The other seats included Saidapet, Mylapore and Velachery where BJP has found support among the middle-class voters.
The party has also come third in Egmore and Harbour, where north Indian communities live in sizeable numbers, besides Chepauk-Tiruvallikkeni, Thousand Lights and Anna Nagar. In the Assembly elections, the DMK secured 10,18,931 votes and won 10 seats in the city, while AIADMK which got 9,71,547 votes won six constituencies. The two parties are separated by a thin margin of about 47,000 votes. The DMK won seven of the 10 seats where the BJP had done well, indicating that the saffron party’s presence had helped the DMK.
But, the impact could not be the same in the civic body polls in Chennai. In the recent Assembly elections, the DMK got the support of swing voters who did not want the AIADMK’s return. Similar could be the case with the AIADMK, which reaped all anti-DMK votes. But, once normalcy returns, supporters of other opposition parties could move to parties of their choice. While the AIADMK could keep its votes intact or improve it further due to voters’ tendency to support the ruling party in the civic body elections, DMK should have to fight against the possibility of its votes being taken away by other parties including the BJP. However, political analyst Govi. Lenin said “The fact that the BJP has come third in Chennai should be accepted. But, the BJP cannot make an impact since the gap between the top two parties and BJP is too wide.”
