- author, Muralitharan Kasiviswanathan
- position, BBC Tamil
DMK wins Erode East by-election by largest margin ever – Congress alliance has won. Does it have a political impact?
In the ongoing Erode East Constituency by-election DMK. – The candidate of the Congress alliance is E.V.K.S. Ilangovan has been a huge success. A.D.M.K. While candidate South has secured 49,981 votes, EVKS. Elangovan got 1,10,556 votes. The difference in votes is only 66,575. Last time, DMK – His son E. Ve. Ra, who won on behalf of the Congress alliance. This is a huge difference considering the total number of votes bought was 67,300.
These election results will have different effects on each party. For the DMK, it has faced an unprecedented by-election and is trying to show that its dominance in the Tamil Nadu electoral arena continues.
But DMK is not new to this kind of big win in by-elections. It has never been a reflection of goodwill towards the ruling party.
In 2009, a by-election was announced after the death of the then assembly member of Madurai Thirumangalam constituency, Veera Irasasu. Lata Athiyaman was fielded on behalf of DMK in this by-election. ADMK Gavin M opposed him. Muthuramalingam contested.
In this election, M.K. DMK faced the election under the leadership of Alagiri. DMK won by nearly 39,000 votes. won. The term ‘Thirumangalam Formula’ was coined around this election. However, in the 2011 Assembly General Election, M. Muthuramalingam himself won. For a moment of celebration, this election may have worked for the DMK.
For the ADMK, the electoral defeat was expected but learned many lessons the hard way. On the day the election results came out, ADMK was in televised debates. Many who spoke on behalf mentioned that they did not have enough time.
There was some truth in that argument. When the election was announced, DMK, NDA and DMDK also announced their candidates and prepared for the election, while the Edappadi side in ADMK also said yes. Panneerselvam’s side also announced candidates one by one and kept the activists confused. Even more shocking was the fact that the BJP also declared its support for the united ADMK. A day before the filing of nominations in the election, all the negotiations ended and he filed as a candidate for the South.
After this, the ADMK’s election campaign heated up, but the party never recovered from the setback caused by the initial confusion. A few days before polling, Edappadi K. Palaniswami side is the real ADMK. Even though the court ruled in this way, that enthusiasm did not carry much in the field. DMK in the election field. ADMK also handled all the aspects it handled at a lower level. However, compared to the last election, it has suffered a huge setback.
Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s leadership and continuous electoral defeats will not be encouraging for the party. Before this, the 2017 R.K. DTV Dhinakaran, who stood as an independent, defeated the ruling party ADMK in the city by-elections. It was the first time the ruling party had lost a by-election since 2004.
After this, 2019 parliamentary election, 2019 rural local government election, 2021 assembly general election, 9 district rural local government election, urban local government election, Edappadi K. ADMK continues to suffer defeats under the leadership of Palaniswami. is meeting
But, A.D.M.K. As for the volunteers and administrators, Edappadi K. Since they stand behind Palaniswami, his position within the party is not affected much. But these electoral defeats will leave the public questioning whether he is a strong leader. Come the 2024 parliamentary elections, these defeats will be a psychological blow to coalition talks and campaigns.
The biggest shock in this election is for Naam Tamil Party and DMK. In the last election, Naam Tamilar Party candidate Gomathi got 11,629 votes. This is 7.65 percent of the votes cast. But this time Naam Tamilar Party has got only 10,804 votes. This is 800 votes less than last time and the voter turnout has also decreased. Last time, the party got 7.65 percent votes, this time it got only 5 percent votes.
During the election campaign, the chief coordinator of the party, Seeman, spoke about Mudaliyars and Arundhatiyars, which created a lot of controversies. It also raised questions about whether he was trying to garner votes by dividing the electorate socially and linguistically.
But in the field of campaign, Naam Tamil Party members were very active in campaigning. DMK, ADMK Parallel to these parties we could see the campaign of the Tamil party. Even beyond that campaign, the party’s backlash is noticeable.
If the party that has suffered the worst setback in this election is the DMK. After the formation of this constituency in 2008, the ADMK won the 2011 elections. The constituency was allotted to DMK in the alliance. Chandrakumar was stopped and he won. In the subsequent elections, the party suffered setbacks in this constituency.
But this time, when the by-election was announced for this constituency, DMDK announced the candidate with great enthusiasm. A major reason for this is that this is a block they already have. But when Vijayakanth’s health was very bad, Premalatha Vijayakanth and her sons joined the campaign. When they were not on the campaign trail, the DMK was understaffed and underfunded.
In the end, the party got only 949 votes. This failure could have very serious consequences for the party. Already in the assembly elections of 2021, the party, along with Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, contested in just 60 constituencies and suffered a crushing defeat. This failure has caused the party to have no bargaining power in the upcoming elections and the major parties are thinking of including the party.
This election result has an impact on every party and leader, says Brian, a veteran journalist.
“MK Stalin has proved once again that he is a personality through this election. For Edappadi, he can achieve that only through electoral victory. This time too he has failed.
But, for this, the ADMK government left him. It cannot be said that they will go to Panneerselvam. As far as Naam Tamil Party is concerned, it is true that the party has grown in field. But this volume is not the place to weigh it precisely.
Since it was a constituency where the two major parties clashed fiercely, the actual development of the party remains unknown. As far as the DMK is concerned, the party has lost its raison d’être in Tamil Nadu. These are the messages that this by-election has delivered,” says Brien.
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