Actor-turned-politician and DMDK Chief Vijayakanth has on Wednesday announced that his party would be contesting independently in the upcoming rural local body polls that will be held in nine districts in Tamil Nadu. The major announcement from Vijayakanth has come a day after the similar decision taken by the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) that it will contest the polls independently by exiting the ADMK alliance. 

After the Election Commission has announced the election dates on Monday - September 13, the political parties in Tamil Nadu are gearing up for another election battle, four months after the assembly polls. With several parties on the ground, the direct fight would typically be between the ruling DMK and the opposition ADMK. Vijayakanth's DMDK has been eroding for the past few years as the sequel of incessant debacles in the election. The absence of Vijayakanth on the political pitch and the uncertainty in the leadership and in driving the party had ended in tumultuous politics. 

Vijayakanth has been battling his health ailments and his family members Premalatha Vijayakanth and Sudheesh have been captaining the party only to cause more damage to the party's anatomy. The DMDK didn't do well in the last few elections, including the 2016 assembly polls, 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 2019 Local body polls, and 2021 assembly polls. The party had already been a flawed contender on the track and the lack of a strong stalwart had put the party into the abyss. To deliver a great show of displaying that the party is still revolving around the political orbit, it's time for the DMDK to do a major operation for its resurrection.

On Wednesday, as the local body polls near, Vijayakanth has announced that the DMDK will be contesting independently in the rural local body polls in nine districts. He said that those who are interested to contest in the elections under DMDK's ticket can obtain the application at the district offices of their respective districts on September 16 and 17 and submit it back to the party. The DMDK has also highlighted the amount that has to be paid by the people to the party for contesting in the elections. 

DMDK had observed an alliance with AMMK, led by TTV Dhinakaran, in the 2021 assembly polls. Vijaykanth's party has become the second notable party in Tamil Nadu after PMK to announce that it will contest the polls independently. On Tuesday, the PMK has announced that the party will be contesting independently. In a statement, PMK President GK Mani has said that the decision to contest independently was taken unanimously following a meeting that was attended by party functionaries on Tuesday. Though the PMK hasn't announced it has fully exited the ADMK alliance and that the decision of contesting independently is only for the local body polls, the political observers say that the decision is a prelude for PMK's political game of ending the alliance with the ADMK. 

The polls will be held in nine districts - Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur, Tirunelveli, and Tenkasi. On Monday, the Tamil Nadu Election Commission has announced that the local body polls in the nine newly created districts will be held in two phases on October 6 and 9. While polling will take place in 39 unions on October 6, the remaining 35 unions will cast their vote on October 9 and the counting will be held on October 12. While speaking to the reporters, Tamil Nadu Election Commissioner Palanikumar has said that the election code of conduct has come into immediate effect in these districts and the filing of nomination would begin on September 15 and will run until September 22. 

The scrutiny of the nomination will be held on September 23 and September 25 will be the last date to withdraw the nomination and the final list of candidates will be announced on the same day. The election commissioner further said that the election will be held for 27,003 postings, including 2,901 village panchayat presidents' posts and 22,581 village panchayat ward councillors. A total of 76,59,720 voters are eligible to cast their vote in the two-phased polls. The polling will start at 7 am and end at 6 pm. The people who had tested positive for the Covid-19 pandemic and the people with the symptoms will be allowed to vote from 5 pm to 6 pm on the voting day.