Chennai: The DMK and AIADMK are planning to stop the victory of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) by fielding former ministers from Erode district itself as they know the local turf and manage the field work effectively.
Among the five vacant Assembly seats, Tiruchy East was won by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, Karur by former minister M.R. Vijayabaskar and Viralimalai by former minister C. Vijayabaskar. All the three seats are considered favourable to the TVK since Tiruchy is a party stronghold while the two former ministers could be fielded by the TVK in Karur and Viralimalai. The opposition could force a contest in Ambasamudram and Perundurai.
The TVK ended up in the third place in Perundurai with just 29.64 per cent votes while the AIADMK candidate S. Jayakumar polled 35.03 per cent votes and the DMK garnered 30.2 per cent votes. The Congress, when contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha elections on its own, bagged 5.16 per cent votes in the Erode segment while the MDMK got 5.24 per cent votes when it went alone in 2001.
The MDMK had won the Erode Lok Sabha seat twice in 2009 (AIADMK alliance) and 2019 (DMK alliance) and it pushed the DMK to the third place in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in the BJP-DMDK alliance. Both the Congress and MDMK still have a good presence in Perundurai and they could add to the TVK strength in the by-poll.
Former minister S. Muthusamy is the DMK district secretary now and he had been a minister in the cabinet of AIADMK founder MGR and that of his successor J. Jayalalithaa. Besides his experience and influence in Erode, the TVK’s triumph card of claiming the legacy of MGR and Jayalalithaa could get tougher when Muthusamy is in the fray. The DMK leaders could cite Muthusamy’s proximity to MGR and stop the TVK from swinging the AIADMK votes to its favour.
The AIADMK is trying to bring back former minister ‘Thoppu’ N.D. Venkatachalam who had quit the DMK after the 2026 Assembly elections. The TVK is likely to field S. Jayakumar who won the seat as an AIADMK MLA, resigned and joined the TVK. He is considered a weak candidate when he faces two former ministers belonging to the same area as his rivals. The campaign of TVK’s charismatic leader Joseph Vijay in Perundurai alone could turn the fight in his favour.
The Madras High Court has already cleared the decks for the Perundurai by-poll by dismissing the DMK’s election petition against the victory of Jayakumar. The high court is yet to clear the election petitions for four other seats, Ambasamudram, Tiruchi East, Karur and Viralimalai. Since the constituencies could not be vacant for more than six months, by-polls are due in the seats before Nov. 25, the high court is expected to come out with a decision on the four constituencies as soon as it reopens after the Dasara holidays on Monday.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
