People's Welfare Front

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
Politics of India Political parties Elections

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

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

2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election ^[6]

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

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

1. "People's Welfare Front Formally Gets Political Stamp". The New Indian Express. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
2. "PWF Demo on Rising Prices, Intolerance". newindianexpress.com. The Indian Express. 2015. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
3. "TN polls: Joining the Third Front". The Indian Express.
4. "Tamil Nadu polls 2016: Vasan-led TMC joins DMDK-PWF combine". dna.
5. "மக்கள் நலக் கூட்டு இயக்கம் குறைந்தபட்ச செயல்திட்டம் வரைவு அறிக்கை". mdmk.org.in. MDMK.org. 2015. Retrieved 8 November 2015.
6. "General Election to Legislative Assembly Trends & Results 2016". Election Commission of India. Archived from the original on 24 November 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2021.