CHENNAI: There is a popular belief among the people of Uthiramerur constituency that the party they choose in the Assembly poll will form the government in Tamil Nadu.Since 1952, that has been the trend, except in 1957 when an independent, V K Ramasami Mudaliar, won."
It has been happening ever since elections were first held during the time of ancient monarchs centuries back," Subban, a farmer from Uthiramerur said, referring to the 'kudavolai' (pottickets) system of polling, in which candidates were chosen by picking a ticket from a pot.Proof of the ancient practice can be found in the town on stone edicts called Uthiramerur Kalvettu, dating back to 920 AD, the reign of Parantaka Chola, detailing elections of the village assembly 1,000 years ago."
The popular belief is probably why political parties do not give away the Uthiramerur seat to allies," said Rani, a shopkeeper in the town.For the April 13 elections, the AIADMK has fielded Walajabad P Ganesan, and the DMK Pon Kumar.