Congress vs AIADMK in Erode (east) by-poll in Tamil Nadu

The February 27 by-election to Erode (east) assembly seat will witness a direct contest between Congress and AIADMK, the principal opposition party which has fielded a common candidate, even as AMMK led by T T V Dhinakaran pulled out of the race citing “non-allocation” of the symbol preferred by it.

The by-election which was necessitated due to the death of incumbent MLA Thirumahan E Ve Ra will also witness the Tamil nationalist outfit, Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK) in the fray on the sidelines. BJP, which played a major role in convincing expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam to withdraw his candidate, also put its weight behind K S Thennarasu, the AIADMK candidate announced by Edappadi K Palaniswami.

With Dhinakaran also deciding to withdraw his candidate on the pretext that he was not allotted the Pressure Cooker symbol, the entire opposition is likely to support Thennarasu who will take on the Congress’ E V K S Elangovan, grandnephew of legendary social reformer E V R Periyar.

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As expected, the AIADMK candidate will get to contest on the Two Leaves symbol after OPS didn’t object to it and the Election Commission of India accepting the affidavits of General Council members submitted by Presidium Chairman A Tamizh Magan Hussain.

The by-election is seen as the first major popularity test for the 20-month-old DMK government and an acid test for AIADMK, especially Palaniswami who has made the polls a prestige issue. In the 2021 elections, Elangovan’s son, and Congress nominee, Thirumahan, had won the seat dominated by Mudaliars and Muslims by over 7,000 votes.

Tamil Nadu BJP President K Annamalai, in a statement, addressed Palaniswami as the interim general secretary of the AIADMK and announced his party’s “full support” to Thennarasu. “I thank Edappadi K Palaniswami for fielding the candidate from AIADMK after following the due legal process and also O Panneerselvam for withdrawing his faction's candidate. I request BJP cadres to ensure the victory of the NDA candidate,” Annamalai said.

With this, the BJP has succeeded in its efforts to field a single candidate from the Opposition side to take on the DMK alliance which is arithmetically strong. The BJP, whose appeal for an united AIADMK was shot down by EPS camp, convinced OPS to suspend his fight for the control of the party “for now” and support Thennarasu, after having decided not to rub Palaniswami the wrong way.

Political observers say the arithmetic favours the ruling alliance as over 20 per cent of the 2.26 lakh voters belong to the minority community, while there is a sizeable chunk of Mudaliars, Gounders, and Naidus, in the constituency.