The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu extended its winning run in elections on Saturday by emerging victorious in the Erode East bypoll with a massive margin against actor-politician Seeman's NTK, a victory that should come as a major boost to the MK Stalin-led party ahead of next year's assembly elections.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate VC Chandhirakumar trounced Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) MK Seethalakshmi by a margin of 91,558 votes.
In the process, NTK, a Tamil nationalist organisation, forefeited deposit.
Chief minister and DMK president Stalin said his party registered a huge victory on Periyar's (rationalist leader E V Ramasamy) soil. Erode is the native district of Ramasamy, a Dravidian stalwart. The win was a recognition of the DMK government's good governance.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief and Leader of Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami, described the DMK's win as "fake," saying there was "nobody on the ground," referring to the main opposition party and others keeping away from the contest.
With 44 other candidates-- most of them independents, in fray, NOTA (None of the Above) grabbed the third place with 6,109 votes.
Chandhirakumar polled 1,15,709 votes while Seethalakshmi came a distant second with 24,151 votes.
The winning candidate later said the DMK has secured "75 percent of the votes."
"I dedicate this victory to the Chief Minister (Stalin). People have reposed faith in the DMK, the CM and deputy CM (Udhayanidhi Stalin)," he told reporters.
The victory sparked jubilation among DMK supporters in Erode and elsewhere. At the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, DMK workers celebrated the win by bursting crackers.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA from the segment, EVKS Elangovan last year.
The Congress is a part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance in the state and the seat was won by the national party's E Thirumahan Everaa in 2021 elections. Following his death in January, 2023, his father Elangovan won the bypoll held in March that year.
The February 5 election that saw DMK and NTK lock horns was fought in the background of a rivalry between the two parties over Seeman's vehement criticism of EV Ramasamy 'Periyar' recently. The Dravidian stalwart is a highly respected figure in Tamil Nadu and founded the rationalist organisation Dravidar Kazhagam, the ideological fountainhead of DMK.
In an apparent dig at Seeman, Stalin said DMK's huge victory came on Periyar's soil.
All those who contested against the DMK in the Erode East by-election lost their poll deposit, he said, addressing a massive gathering of the DMK at Chennai.
DMK's triumph, more or less anticipated even as AIADMK and BJP boycotted the hustings, follows the ruling party-led coalition's stunning 2024 Lok Sabha polls show, where it won all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, besides netting the lone Puducherry segment.
Assembly elections are scheduled both in Tamil Nadu and the Puducherry union territory next year. The DMK is keen to retain power in TN, after sweeping the elections in 2021 that ended its 10 year-long stint in the opposition. DMK and its allies had won 38 of the 39 LS seats in the 2019 parliamentary polls as well. The ruling party had retained the Vikravandi Assembly seat in a bypoll held last year.
It swept the local body elections held in the state after coming to power.
Earlier in the day, the counting of polled votes began at 8 am at a government college in Chithode in this district.
Postal ballots were taken up for counting first.
The polling on Wednesday witnessed a voter turnout of 67.97 per cent.
The rest of the candidates in the fray put up a poor show, with some of them getting votes in double digits.
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