A candidate from Coimbatore has made headlines for getting a single 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 is a BJP youth wing leader in Coimbatore contested for the position of ward councillor in the elections held to the Periyanaickenpalayam union kurudampalayam panchayat ward number 9. However, he only managed to get one vote.
According to some reports, Karthik’s loss was even more embarrassing as he had a total of five members in his family, four of whom did not vote for him. However, reacting to the media, Karthik said that his family's vote was in ward number 4 and therefore they could not vote for him. Candidates in local body polls do not contest under political party symbols, though parties do back them officially.
As the results in the ward were being announced, social media erupted with jokes about Karthik. The hashtag #SingleVoteBJP started trending on Twitter and has been used in over 12,000 tweets and counting. Poet-activist Meena Kandasamy took to Twitter with a screenshot of the election result and caption, “BJP candidate gets only one vote in local body elections. Proud of the four other voters in his household who decided to vote for others.”
BJP candidate gets only one vote in local body elections. Proud of the four other voters in his household who decided to vote for others pic.twitter.com/tU39ZHGKjg
— Dr Meena Kandasamy ¦¦ இளவேனில் (@meenakandasamy) October 12, 2021
State Deputy Secretary of the DMK IT Wing Isai tweeted, “BJP candidate from Coimbatore secured 1 vote in the local body election and his family has 5 votes.
BJP Candidate secured 1 vote!
— இசை (@isai_) October 12, 2021
Trivia: His family has 5 votes! #ஒத்த_ஓட்டு_பாஜக pic.twitter.com/L5Y22UOsf3
Another Twitter user Siva Prasath TR wrote, “#Tamilnadu People are so cruel, they should cast 10 votes, at least for 10 leaders in Poster. D.Karthik the Coimbatore District's BJP Youth wing Deputy Secretary got 1 vote in #LocalBody election.”
The bye-elections for local bodies were held in Coimbatore on October 9. Elections were held for 13 posts including District Panchayat Ward Member, Village Panchayat Ward Member, Village Municipal Chairman. 55,280 people voted in this bye-election.
In the Kurudampalayam Panchayat, the DMK won with candidate Arul Raj winning 387 votes. AIADMK's Vaithiyalingam received 196 votes. A total of 910 votes were cast there.
Apart from Coimbatore bye-elections, counting for other Tamil Nadu local body polls are also underway. The counting of votes began at 8 am on October 12 in 74 centres across Tamil Nadu. The elections were held for the rural local bodies of Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Ranipet, Villupuram, Vellore, Tiruppatur, and Kallakurichi districts of the state.
31,245 officials are involved in the counting process and 6,228 police personnel are deployed for duty in the counting centres spread in the nine districts.