Chennai: Just as the dust raised by the October 6 by-elections to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram constituencies has settled down, both the opposition DMK and the ruling TVK are gearing up to face the next batch of by-elections to five Assembly constituencies that have to be called for by December as it is mandatory for the Election Commission of India to hold the polls within six months of the seats falling vacant.
Portending the onset of another season of hectic campaigning by top political leaders, who would be crisscrossing the rural constituencies of Karur, Viralimalai, Perundurai and Ambasamudram and the urban Trichy East seat was DMK president M K Stalin’s call to his party cadre to girdle up for the polls at a meeting of party functionaries in Chennai and State Revenue Minister K A Sengottaiyan giving an indication of the impeding polls at a party meeting in Viralimalai.
While Sengottaiyan said that C Vijayabhaskar, who resigned as MLA of Viralimalai to join the TVK, would be the candidate of TVK from the same constituency, the party also send out the message to cadre to get ready for the polls by starting the work at the grassroots level to rev up the party machinery.
Apart from the Trichy East seat that was vacated by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, who had to give it up as he had won from two seats in the general elections held in May – he retained Perambur in Chennai – the other constituencies were clinched by AIADMK candidates who have now migrated to the TVK after resigning the posts.
The by-elections for the five seats could not be held along with Madurantakam and Dharapuram due to legal tangles that had now been sorted out. So before December the polling might take place and the results could be historic – if the TVK candidates win it would mark the strengthening of the party in the Assembly and its liberation from the present ordeal of depending on other parties for a simple majority in the House.
If the TVK candidates lose, it would be construed as the beginning of the decline of the ruling party that had already won the seats in Madurantakam and Dharapuram by fielding the same candidates who defected to the party after winning the seats under the AIADMK banner.
All the candidates, including C Vijayabaskar of Viralimalai, whose defection to the TVK necessitated by-elections are M R Vijayabhaskar (Karur), S Jayakumar (Perundurai) and Isaki Subbiah (Ambasamudram) are expected to be nominated against by the TVK that might have to look out for another candidate in Trichy East.
Since Naam Tamilar Katchi chief convener Seeman has expressed a desire to contest from Ambasamudram constituency as a common opposition candidate, the electoral results could swing against the ruling party if all the opposition parties like the DMK and others agree to support him in the polls.
Another significance that the by-elections have gained is that they would be precursor to the local body polls that might follow them. Already the local bodies that went to polls during the previous AIADMK rule had completed their terms with Special Officers taking charge of the administration and those that were installed during the DMK rule would also see the end of their tenure by December.
So the TVK government would take a decision on holding elections to the local bodies based on the results of the next set of five by-elections to Assembly constituencies.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: deccanchronicle.com
