DMK rebels won the chairperson position in the three other municipalities. Out of the four municipalities, Padmanabhapuram is the only municipality where the official candidate of the DMK G Arulsoban managed to win the indirect polls as chairman.

This shocked the DMK camp as at least four of their councillors had cast their votes in favour of the BJP, which resulted in a nail biting contest. Mahesh managed to secure 28 councillor votes while Meena gave a tough fight by securing 24 votes. While AIADMK had seven, the corporation also had two independent councillors. The candidates needed the support of 27 councillors to become the mayor. On the other hand, Meena Dev, a two-time chairperson of Nagercoil municipality, had only 11 BJP councillors. The DMK was confident of winning as their alliance had 32 councillors – DMK (24), Congress (7) and MDMK (1) – in the corporation that has 52 wards. Tense moments prevailed in Nagercoil Corporation as there was a contest between DMK’s R Mahesh and BJP’s Meena Dev to be elected as the first mayor of Nagercoil Corporation.

While four DMK alliance councillors voted against the DMK mayoral candidate in Nagercoil Corporation, three DMK rebels won the municipal chairperson post in three out of the four municipalities in the southern district out of which it won two with the help of BJP councillors. KANYAKUMARI: Kanyakumari district continues to be a tough nut to crack for the DMK and other political parties.

Tough nut to crack crossword