 The secular progressive alliance led by the DMK has secured a massive mandate in the urban local body polls. The SPA has all the 21 city corporations in the state and almost all of the municipalities and town Punjayats which went for polls recently. The All India Anadravida Munnetra Karagam has suffered another electoral setback with the party coming at a distant second. The party has lost its traditional strongholds in the western and southern districts. The DMK and its allies have won decisive mandates in Coimbatore, Salem and Thaini districts, considered weak links of the party. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin claimed that the victory is the result of the spectacular works of the DMK government in the last nine months. The civic polls where the residences of the AI-DMK leaders, Palanissami in Salem district and Panir Selvam in Thaini district were won by the DMK alliance. Adding insult to injury, two victorious candidates of the AI-DMK have joined the DMK ahead of the indirect polls. Nominations for these urban local body polls were filed between January 28th and February 4th and the campaign days went on till February 17th. Polling for the 600 odd urban local bodies in Tamil Nadu were held on February 19th. People arrived early and lined up in long queues to cast their ballots. A total of 60.7% of the 2.5 crore eligible voters cast their votes by 6 p.m. In the week-long campaign preceding the polling day, the urban and semi-urban areas were filled with dough-to-dough campaigns, small processions and loudspeaker announcements. Although state-level leaders of the political parties were seen lashing out at one another, in the local areas, the lack of necessary civic amenities were the center of discussion. Recurring the inundation of low-lying areas during monsoon seasons and the absence of a proper stormwater drainage system are major issues in the cities. Water enters houses on the ground floor even during moderate rains. Besides the difficulty of mobility during the rainy season, stagnant water spoils the roads and leads to mosquito breeding, which are also big issues in urban areas. Roads are repeatedly dug to lay electricity lines, extend water pipelines and construct stormwater drains and sewage lines. And wherever these works were recently carried out, the roads are damaged and the usable portion of the road is reduced in width. On the other hand, shrinking water bodies is a big problem. It has led to large-scale water scarcity in big cities like Chennai and Madurai. The well-off localities have water pipelines supplied to their houses, but those dependent on bore wells are left with no other option but to buy water tankers during summer. Although water bodies have shrunk, people complain that even the existing ones are not maintained well. They are not sheltered regularly and are common places for dumping garbage, especially in areas where garbage collection is poor. Families living in housing boat tenements, particularly in Chennai, fear being evacuated and moved to the suburbs. They demanded the candidates for expansion and accreditation of houses in the same locality and voted for candidates who they thought would stand by them. Pataks for residents who have been living in the same area for many decades is a long-pending demand and was addressed in the campaigns. The congestion of traffic in arterial roads adjacent to residential areas and even inside residential areas was another issue raised in relevant works. The everyday issues were so many in each ward that there was little scope for more constructive demands from the people and promises from the candidates. Local libraries, playgrounds, community halls, fitness centers and other such proposals around sports and leisure activities were hardly visible in the campaign. Given that the local body poles were pending for 10 long years in Tamil Nadu, those who are voted to power have a lot of work to accomplish. Will the DMK and its allies, which have bad majority of the urban local body seats, keep up their promises?