With final round of counting, Jubilations mark Congress' EVKS Elangovan victory in Erode East by-elections

The counting of votes for the Erode East by-election in Tamil Nadu began at 8 am and there were 77 candidates in the fray.

Erode: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday said Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan's success has established people's faith in the "Dravidian model of governance" that the state administration was following. With numbers from the final round of counting at hand, the Congress candidate swept the polls, clocking more than 1.10 lakh votes as opposed to a little more than 43,000 votes polled by S K Thennarasu.

"When I was campaigning, I had sought people's support for the Dravidian model of governance. This indicates the verdict from people that the same should be continued even vigorously" he was quoted as saying. Stalin further noted that the people of Tamil Nadu had "taught a lesson" to opposition leader K Palaniswami.

The Chief Minister noted that the lead generated by Elangovan was a "laying of ground" for the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in Tamil Nadu for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, Thennarasu, who left the counting centre in a huff, told media personnel that 'moneyocracy' has won and the 'democracy' has lost.

Meanwhile, celebrations have started near the counting centre at Government Engineering College (IRTT), Chithode. With a total of 16 tables set up in two rooms, each table has been assigned two counting officials and one micro observer, with the process set to reach completion within 15 rounds.

The EVMs from all 238 polling stations were brought here to the Counting Centre and kept in the 'strong room'. A round-the-clock three tier-security involving 150 personnel per shift in three shifts had been put in place. The entire strong room and the corridors leading to the strong room have been kept under CCTV surveillance.

There are 77 candidates in the fray while the contest remained bipolar since the election was announced and remained the same throughout the campaign. Also, this was the first by-election since the DMK romped to power in 2021 and will not alter the House Composition in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

Chief Minister M K Stalin, during his campaign, appealed to the electorate to treat this bypoll as a means to evaluate the good performance of the DMK government which delivered on most of its promises and sought their support for the candidate from his ally. He also declared that the poll promise of Rs 1,000 per month to every woman head of the family will certainly be implemented, and the date of implementation will be announced in the budget in March.

AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) was building a case of failures on the ruling dispensation reeling out a host of issues. He cited the rise in electricity tariff and the inability to get an exemption for the state from appearing in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), an emotive issue for the state, as examples. He sought the electors to choose his party candidate as a fitting lesson to the ruling government.

The seat was declared vacant following the death of Elangovan's son Thirumahan Everaa earlier in January and the byelection to fill the vacancy was announced by the Election Commission of India on the sidelines of the election to two other State Assembly Constituencies - one in Jharkhand and other in West Bengal.