Vellore LS polls to be held on August 5

Lok Sabha polls to Vellore constituency, which was rescinded in April due to seizure of crores of rupees, will be held on Monday in the high-stakes battle between the ruling AIADMK and Opposition DMK. This is the first election in Tamil Nadu after the DMK made a comeback in the Lok Sabha polls by winning 37 out of the 38 seats that went to the hustings.

The polls would show whether the anti-Modi wave in Tamil Nadu that bucked the national trend will repeat yet again or the AIADMK would get a chance in this constituency. The DMK and the AIADMK have pulled every stop to turn the tide in favour of them by fielding all their senior leaders and party functionaries in Vellore, where Muslim votes would play a key role in deciding the winner.

The polls in Vellore were rescinded on April 16, two days before the state went to elections on April 18, due to allegations of rampant use of money power and recovery of huge amounts of cash from a godown linked to a person close to the DMK candidate.

Both the DMK and AIADMK have repeated their candidates – Kadhir Anand and A C Shanmugham – and the constituency will face a direct contest between the Rising Sun and Two Leaves symbol. Polling will begin at 7 am and end at 6 pm during which more than 10 lakh voters are eligible to cast their vote, while counting of votes would take place on August 9 If the DMK wins, the party's strength would increase to 24, while the AIADMK will have a company to the lone member, O P Ravindranath.

The election will also serve as yet another acid test for the DMK which is under pressure to win the seat for a variety of reasons – the candidate is the son of its treasurer Durai Murugan and a victory would send a message that Tamil Nadu would still reject the BJP whatsoever the party’s position in Delhi.

The DMK has used the Triple Talaq Bill passed by the Parliament to pain the AIADMK alliance, in which BJP is a part, as “anti-Muslim women” in a constituency dominated by Muslims. On the other hand, the AIADMK projected the DMK as the party that opposed the second term to former president, A P J Abdul Kalam in 2007.