No, BJP did not emerge as the third-largest party in Tamil Nadu local body elections 2022 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 24, 2022
Results of the Tamil Nadu local body elections 2022 were announced recently. It is in this context a social media post that claims that  BJP has emerged as the third-largest party is being widely circulated across all the social media platforms. Another post that details the results claims that BJP has won 5 Corporations, 46 Municipalities, and 188 Town Panchayats. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in these posts.
Claim: BJP has emerged as the third largest party in the Tamil Nadu local body elections 2022.
Fact: As per the data released by the Tamil Nadu state election commission, BJP won 308 out of the total 12838 corporators/ward members/town panchayat members, making it the fourth largest individual party in terms of win percentage. If we consider independents, BJP stands fifth, as the total seats won by independents places them in third position, above INC and BJP.  The State Election Commission did not release vote share figures as of 24 February 2022. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The State election commission of Tamil Nadu has released the information related to the total wards won by any political party but did not release vote share figures
As per the information available on the Tamil Nadu state election commission website, BJP won 22 of the total 1374 Corporation wards, 56 of the 2843 Municipal wards, and 230 of the total 7621 Town Panchayat wards. This result of BJP winning the wards in different local bodies is misrepresented as it is winning the entire Corporation/ Municipality/Town Panchayat in the claim made in the post.
However, in total, the BJP won 308 wards out of 12838 wards (comprising all Corporations, Municipalities, and Town Panchayats) which went for elections. This makes BJP the fourth-largest individual party in terms of the wards elected (win percentage).
The ruling DMK leads the race by winning 7701 wards, followed by AIDMK winning 2008 wards. Independents have bagged 1945 wards making them the third-largest in terms of seats. Congress party stands third within parties with 592 wards.
If we consider the results of only those wards where candidates are elected in a competitive election and leaving out those where candidates were elected unanimously,  a total of 12818 wards went for elections excluding the wards where the election is cancelled or postponed. As of now, DMK with 7701 wards bagged 60.08% of the total 12818 wards. AIDMK win percentage stands around 15.7% with 2008 wards. INC stood third with win percentage standing at 4.62% with 592 wards. BJP stands as fourth-largest individual party with a 2.4% win percentage by winning  308 wards.
However, it is noteworthy to mention that if we consider the total seats won by independents as a whole, BJP stands fifth in terms of win percentage, as the total seats won by independents places them in the third position, above INC and BJP. News articles that reported the election result also prove that BJP is not the third-largest party in terms of win percentage as claimed in the post.
To sum it up, BJP did not stand out as the third-largest party in Tamil Nadu local body elections 2022.