Chennai/Erode: Riding on the shoulders of the ruling DMK, the Congress retained the Erode East Assembly seat with its candidate EVKS Elangovan, a former Union Minister and two-time TNCC chief, trouncing his AIADMK rival, KS Thennarasu, by a huge margin of over 66,575 votes. It was an election marred by allegations of cash for vote and bribing of voters with gifts and even feeding them with sumptuous feast. More than 10 DMK ministers had camped in the constituency till the campaign was over.
More than the Congress, which won the by-election to the Erode East assembly constituency, it is the DMK that has gone into celebration mode, taking the victory as an endorsement of Chief Minister MK Stalin's Dravidian model of governance. For, it was the DMK which had sweat it out in the campaign.
Noting it was a massive verdict on the DMK's Dravidian model of governance and a charged acknowledgment of the same, the Chief Minister thanked people of the constituency. "I also thank the leaders and cadres of alliance parties and the DMK workers who have toiled to secure this victory to the Secular Progressive Alliance" said Stalin at party headquarters, adding that the victory would add substantially to the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The scenes at Anna Arivalayam were enthusiastic and party workers distributed sweets and burst crackers.
While Elangovan secured 1,10,556 votes, Thennarasu polled 43,061 votes. Slamming leader of opposition and AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami, Stalin while speaking to reporters said the latter spoke "like a fourth-rate platform speaker", in a possible reference to EPS' remark in a campaign meeting as to whether Stalin was masculine.
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Asked whether he had considered playing an active role in national politics, the Chief Minister said he was already in national politics, emphasizing on who should not helm the country's affairs to be a more pertinent question than who gets the highest chair. Meanwhile, jubilations were tamer in TNCC headquarters, Sathyamurthy Bhavan, which wore a deserted look after distribution of sweets and bursting of firecrackers by a small group of party workers.
When spoken to, winning candidate Elangovan had similar points to highlight. "In its 20-month rule, the DMK has fulfilled 85 percent of the poll promises. It is also a victory for the Secular Progressive Alliance and the people reposing their faith in the Congress as well as the love and affection the Tamil people have for Rahul Gandhi" he noted.
Meanwhile, AIADMK candidate Thennarasu left the counting centre after his rival mounted a significant lead. The party, notably, was able to hold on to its deposit. As per a section of poll observers, AIADMKs' performance was credible, and that the party's votes had not gone to ultra Tamil nationalist Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) of filmmaker Seeman, which had occupied the second position in 2021 elections.
The 2021 polls saw DMK's Thirumahan Everaa, late DMK MLA and son of Elangovan, rake up a total of 67,300 votes whereas his nearest rival, M Yuvaraja of AIADMK ally Tamil Maanila Congress, polled 58,396 votes. The Tamil nationalist, Naam Tamizhar Katchi of filmmaker Seemaan, which secured the third place with 7984 votes had failed to poach AIADMK votes or that of the Makkal Needhi Maiam of actor-neta Kamal Hassan, who had extended support to the Congress. In the 2021 election the NTK had secured the third place polling 11,629 votes while MNM came close with 10,005. The DMDK of actor Vijayakant had fallen by the wayside, polling a meagre 949 votes only.
