Tamil Nadu: Congress registers historic win in Erode bypoll

Congress candidate E V K S Elangovan registered a landslide win in the bye-election to Erode (east) assembly constituency, decimating principal Opposition party, AIADMK, with Chief Minister M K Stalin describing the alliance’s victory as “people’s recognition” to his 20-month-old Dravidian Model governance.

Elangovan, the former Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) chief, won the seat by a massive margin of 66.406 votes at the end of the, even as the AIADMK, the runner-up, managed to retain the deposit amount. The by-poll was necessitated due to the death of Elangovan’s son Thirumahan E Ve Ra.

The bye-election was marred by allegations of large-scale inducements to voters by the ruling DMK and Opposition AIADMK, including money, silver ornaments, kitchen appliances, and other items. While the AIADMK candidate K S Thennarasu managed to retain his deposit amount, nominees of other political parties and independents forfeited their deposits in the election which saw 75 per cent polling.

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While Elangovan polled 1,09,959 votes, Thennarasu got 43,553 votes.

Elangovan’s election also means he is likely to replace K Selvaperunthagai as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party. Responding to the by-poll victory, Stalin said he sought votes from the people of Erode on the basis of his government’s performance in the past 20 months.

“The result shows people have recognized the Dravidian model of governance and want us to deliver more. People have also taught a fitting lesson to Opposition Leader Edappadi K Palaniswami who stooped to a new low during the campaign,” Stalin said.

The Chief Minister also said the by-poll victory was a “stepping stone” to winning the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Though the candidate belonged to Congress, the DMK deployed almost the entire cabinet to canvass votes for the alliance nominee with Stalin himself joining the campaign on the last day.

Understandably, the AIADMK described the Congress’ victory as a “defeat of democracy and win for money power”, while the BJP said the result was on expected lines as ruling parties always won by-polls in Tamil Nadu. However, TN BJP chief K Annamalai said he will not accept the suggestion that the victory was an endorsement of the DMK’s governance model.

AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami described DMK’s victory as the “defeat of democracy” as the ruling party “induced” voters with money. “If the elections were held in a free and fair manner, AIADMK would have won,” he said.

The defeat comes as a serious setback to AIADMK now led by Palaniswami, who spent about a week campaigning in Erode (east). He is likely to come under criticism from the camp led by expelled leader O Panneerselvam for failing to put up a “good show” despite the entire opposition standing with him.

In his comments, Elangovan said: “People have given us this victory because Chief Minister M K Stalin fulfilled 80 per cent of the election promises he had made in 20 months of his rule.”