Chennai: DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance candidate EVKS Elangovan of the Congress won the by-election to Erode East assembly constituency by a mammoth margin of 66,406 votes, defeating AIADMK’s K S Thennarasu.
Elangovan secured 109,959 votes and Thennarasu polled 43,553 votes, registering a vote share of 65.79% and 26.62%, respectively. Tamil nationalist S Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi came third with their candidate Menaka Navaneethan polling more than 10,000 votes.
This assembly seat has seen a close contest in the last two elections.In the 2021 assembly elections, Elangovan’s son Thirumahan Everaa won by a margin of 8,904 votes defeating AIADMK candidate M Yuvaraja, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). Everaa’s death in January necessitated the bypoll which his father and Congress veteran Elangovan won.
Thennarasu had won this seat back in the 2016 assembly elections by a thin margin of 7,794 votes. He had secured 64,879 votes against DMK candidate (V C Chandirakumar) who polled 57,085 votes, according to ECI.
The AIADMK’s defeat in the bypoll is a setback for Tamil Nadu’s opposition party led by Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) as he is touted to be dominant in the state’s western region which includes Erode district.
It’s also the first election that the AIADMK faced after the party elected EPS as their interim general secretary and abolished the dual leadership set up by expelling O Panneerselvam.
Thennarasu left the counting centre in a huff as Elangovan was leading from the initial rounds. “Democracy has lost. Money has won,” Thennarasu told reporters in Erode. Later, EPS released a statement accusing the ruling DMK of inducing people with money. “If the elections were held in a free and fair manner, AIADMK would have won,” EPS said. AIADMK’s ally BJP pointed out that the ruling party usually wins bypolls in Tamil Nadu.
Elangovan attributed the win for the DMK-Congress alliance to chief minister and DMK president M K Stalin. “People have given us this victory because he has fulfilled 80% of the election promises he had made in 20 months of his governance,” Elangovan said at a press conference. “Another reason is that we are a secular alliance. And Tamil Nadu’s people support and love Rahul Gandhi and appreciate his (Bharat Jodo) Yatra. This is a precursor for us to win in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”
He dismissed AIADMK’s allegations that election officials had not functioned properly. Elangovan, 74, added that he was not in a position to celebrate but he will complete the work his late son Everaa had started for the people of Erode.
Stalin said Elangovan had registered a historic win and attributed it to people’s faith in his government who have taught a lesson to EPS. “Opposition leader Edappadi Palaniswami let himself loose during the campaign and spoke like a fourth rate speaker. People have taught him a good lesson,” Stalin said, adding that they will achieve a bigger victory in 2024. Responding to a query, he said that he was already in India’s national politics.
Stalin and EPS, and senior leaders of both parties and their allies (BJP for AIADMK) had campaigned for the bypoll in a spirited contest which was also marred by controversies such as cash distribution and violence. A total of 77 candidates were in the fray.
