In a big blow to ADMK leader Edappadi Palaniswami, the ward in which he resides in Salem was won by the DMK candidate. While the victory of the rival has shocked him, he has also been enduring a huge setback as the ADMK has been collapsing majorly at the urban local bodies of the state. The opposition party is witnessing yet another magnificent victory of the DMK, which is all set to reign the local bodies including the ADMK's stronghold.

According to reports, DMK candidate Sivakami Arivazhalagan has won the race for Councillor in the 23rd ward of Needunsalai Nagar in Salem, the ward where Edappadi Palaniswami resides. Palaniswami's home district of Salem and several western districts in the Kongu belt had been a stronghold for the ADMK and this region had given more MLAs to the party in the 2021 assembly polls. However, the scenes at the local body polls were completely different as Palaniswami has failed to retain the stronghold even in his ward.

The voting for the local body polls took place last Saturday and the counting has been underway in the state. Ever since the counting has begun on Tuesday, DMK has been leading on all fronts across the state. The DMK candidates are leading in the marathon race and there were events and victories that have turned heads. As the local body polls were held for the first time in eleven years, the vote counting has attracted huge attention and even the political parties ran staunch campaigns.

While the ADMK hoped to win its retention in its strongholds, the voters had given a huge blow to the party and it is less likely that the party could win even a Mayor as the DMK alliance has mostly swept the local bodies. Besides defeating the ADMK candidate in Edappadi Palaniswami's ward, the DMK has been nearing winning more local bodies in the entire district of Salem, which has been elusive for DMK for several years. Winning Salem would be a remarkable feather on MK Stalin's leadership cap. 

According to the data from the state Election Commission, Of the 60 wards in Salem, DMK has a comfortable victory in 23 wards while the ADMK had won only in two wards. The voting at the rest of the wards has been underway and the ADMK has no sight of a satisfying victory. As of 12.30 pm, DMK leads in 1127 municipalities while ADMK leads in 273. The wave of support for MK Stalin is clearly visible across Tamil Nadu that no opposition party has come close to the DMK in the majority of seats. 

As the ruling party is inching closer to a victory, the cadres of DMK had begun celebrating the triumphs that had given a huge blow to the ADMK and to the BJP, which had contested independently by proclaiming that the party has a strong base in the state. The candidates who won the polls have been obtaining certificates from the electoral officers and with the historical victory, DMK is heading towards the indirect polls to elect Mayors, Deputy Mayors, and Chairmen for the local bodies. These indirect polls will be held on March 4 and the ruling party has already been filled with the intra-party race between the leaders for fielding their close aides for these top posts.