People's Welfare Front
 | This article needs to be updated. (May 2017) |
People's Welfare Front Political Alliance | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2015 |
| Dissolved | 2017 |
| Membership | 1)Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam 2)Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 3)Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi 4)Tamil Maanila Congress 5)Communist Party of India 6)Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
| Seats in Tamil Nadu | 0 / 234
|
People's Welfare Front (PWF) was a Tamil-Nadu political alliance formed in October 2015. It consisted of four political parties : Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-(M)). The alliance contested the 2016 Tamil Nadu and Puducherry legislative assembly elections as one unit.[1] The alliance rejected potential alliance with Indian National Congress, BJP, DMK or ADMK, while hopeful of enlisting and TMC and Puthiya Tamilagam.[1]
In early November the alliance led movements against price rise, atrocities against minorities and Dalits and efforts to curtail freedom of speech.[2] It has taken a strong position in favour of liquor prohibition in Tamil Nadu. Later it made an electoral alliance with DMDK[3] and Tamil Maanila Congress.[4]
Policies
[edit]The alliance consists of one Dravidian party (MDMK) and one Tamil party (VCK) and two leftist parties (CPI and CPI(M)). People's Welfare Front released a Common Minimum Program which all parties agreed to.[5] The major features of the program are as below.
- Oppose globalisation, liberalisation economic policies and stop the privatisation of state programmes and industries
- Oppose Hindutva, religious extremism and religious prosecution
- Oppose powers exploiting caste – work to pass stricter laws preventing violence and discrimination against Dalits
- Oppose corruption – implement Lokayukta
- Implement transparent government – information about laws and programs will be released online
- Increase funding and support for local governance units – implement Right to Public Services legislation in Tamil Nadu
- Stop the stealing of minerals
- Promote social justice – preserve 69% reservation, expand reservation in the private sector
- Mother tongue development – make multilingual education ("first-language-first") mandatory
- Promote folk arts – establish a university to develop folk arts
- Work for increase powers and funding for states
- Work to resolve river water issues
- Support Sri Lankan Tamils in pursuit of justice and rights
- Law and order – prevent police brutality
- Protect democratic rights – fully protect freedom of expression
- Prohibition – fully implement liquor prohibition in Tamil Nadu
- Development of agriculture and villages – provide funding and infrastructure services for farmers
- Land – protect arable land
- Irrigation – maintain and modernise major irrigation systems
- Homes and homelessness – provide homes for all without homes
- Promote crafts and small businesses
- Electricity – make Tamil Nadu self-sufficient in producing electricity
- Labour rights – introduce minimum wage of ₹ 15,000 per month
- Education – prevent privatisation of education and develop competitive public educational systems
- Health – allocate 6% to health; create a multi-purpose public medical training facility in each district
- Environment – implement stricter environmental standards
- Employment – fill the two lakhs vacancies without corruption
- Elimination of poverty – correctly identify people below poverty line (BPL) and deliver welfare services to them
- Rural employment scheme – increase wages given under rural employment guarantee
- City people – provide safe drinking water, develop underground sewage system
- Women welfare – ensure that the state women commission works effectively and reports the results in the state assembly
- Fishing communities welfare – stop multi-national companies (MNCs) from using sea resources; provide pensions to fishers
- Minority rights – take strong actions against Hindutva religious violence and hate speech
- Civil service and teachers – make part-time and shift workers permanent
- Democratic reform – recommend proportional representation; work for 50% reservation for women in elected offices
- Inflation – stop online and future trading activities
- Public distribution – provide basic necessities including fruits and vegetables at subsidised prices
- Science and Technology – build a central science and technology advanced research centre in southern Tamil Nadu
- Sports – Make exercise mandatory for all levels until class 12
- Transportation – Increase number of buses to reduce congestion
- Road accidents – Separate traffic by building dividers
Electoral Performance
[edit]| Party/Alliance | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contested | Won | +/- | ||||||
| People's Welfare Front (PWF) |
Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam | 1,037,431 | 2.41% | 105 | 0 |  29
| ||
| Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | 373,713 | 0.87% | 28 | 0 | 
| |||
| Communist Party of India | 340,290 | 0.79% | 25 | 0 | 9
| |||
| Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi | 331,849 | 0.77% | 25 | 0 |
| |||
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 307,303 | 0.72% | 25 | 0 | 10
| |||
| Tamil Maanila Congress | 230,711 | 0.54% | 26 | 0 |
| |||
| Total | 2,621,297 | 6.1 | 234 | 0 | 48
| |||
Withdrawals
[edit]| Political Party | ECI Status | Date | Reason for Withdrawal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) | Unrecognised Party | 20 June 2016 | Quit and later Aligned with the AIADMK-led Alliance | |
| Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam | State Party | 22 June 2016 | ||
| Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam | Unrecognised Party | 27 December 2016 | Quit the front over the differences and later Aligned with the DMK Alliance | |
| Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi | State Party | 25 November 2017 | Aligned with the DMK Alliance ahead of R.K. Nagar Byelection | |
| Communist Party of India | State Party | 27 November 2017 | ||
| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | National Party | 30 November 2017 | ||
References
[edit]- ^ a b "People's Welfare Front Formally Gets Political Stamp". The New Indian Express. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
- ^ "PWF Demo on Rising Prices, Intolerance". newindianexpress.com. The Indian Express. 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ "TN polls: Joining the Third Front". The Indian Express.
- ^ "Tamil Nadu polls 2016: Vasan-led TMC joins DMDK-PWF combine". dna.
- ^ "மக்கள் நலக் கூட்டு இயக்கம் குறைந்தபட்ச செயல்திட்டம் வரைவு அறிக்கை". mdmk.org.in. MDMK.org. 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
- ^ "General Election to Legislative Assembly Trends & Results 2016". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2021.