Three days after DMK president and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin directed party functionaries, who had violated the terms of alliance agreement, to resign from their urban civic body posts, Jayaprabha Manivannan, who was elected vice-chairperson of Nellikuppam municipality stepped down from her post on Tuesday.
Sources said Ms. Manivannan resigned from the post after her meeting with the party high command. However, the DMK’s rebel candidate Jayanthi Radhakrishnan, who won the post of municipal chairperson, has refused to resign despite the directive from the high command.
The post of chairperson of the Nellikuppam municipality was allotted to the VCK, a constituent of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance.
Out of the total of 30 wards, the DMK won in 13 wards and its allies in five. The AIADMK won in three wards. The PMK and the DMDK won in one ward each and Independents in seven in the indirect elections held on March 4.
Sources said the DMK’s local unit was not ready to part with the post of chairperson. Jayanthi Radhakrishnan of the DMK, who won from ward 29, applied for the post and won. While 23 councilors voted for Ms. Radhakrishnan, VCK’s Girija Thirumaran polled only three votes. Three votes were declared invalid. An AIADMK member abstained from voting.
The indirect elections for the post of vice-chairperson were held in the afternoon.
Ms. Thirumaran, who was announced as the official candidate for the post of chairperson, contested for the vice-chairperson’s post after her loss to the DMK’s rebel candidate.
Ms. Thirumaran secured six votes while Ms. Manivannan of the DMK got 22 votes and won the election. One vote was declared invalid while one member abstained from voting.
Following direction from the high command, Ms. Manivannan resigned from the post paving the way for the likely ‘election’ of Ms. Thirumaran for the post of vice-chairperson of the municipality.
