AIADMK Leads In Dharapuram, Rises To Second In Madurantakam Bypolls

As the counting of votes polled in the October 6 bypolls in Tamil Nadu progressed on Friday, the AIADMK which was initially trailing behind ruling TVK and DMK took the lead in Dharapuram and overtook the DMK to emerge second in Madurantakam.In neighbouring Puducherry, ruling AINRC was marching steadily ahead of Congress and DMK candidates.

In Tamil Nadu, though the initial rounds of EVM counting indicated an early lead for the ruling TVK in both the reserved constituencies, after three rounds, AIADMK's K Bhanumathi secured 8244 votes in Dharapuram, pushing TVK candidate P Sathyabama to second with 7434 votes. DMK's S Sunganya was trailing behind with 6158 votes, according to a a latest Election Commission (EC) update.

In Madurantakam, however, the TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel continued to maintain a lead while the AIADMK candidate Kanitha Sampath emerged second with votes DMK's I Paranthaman came third. The counting during the second round was briefly interrupted due to a technical glitch and later resumed.

In Puducherry, AINRC candidate Ashok Anand was currently leading in the Thattanchavady segment with 6950 votes at the end of two rounds, with Congress' E Vinayagam and DMK's K Sethu Selvam trailing behind with 2392 and 1534 votes, respectively.

The bypolls in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are crucial not only for the incumbent TVK and AINRC regimes, but for the Opposition parties as well. The elections were necessitated due to the resignation of incumbent MLAs, including Rangasamy in the respective segments.

In Madurantakam, 27 candidates are trying their luck and the key nominees are ruling TVK's Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK's I Paranthamen, AIADMK's Kanitha Sampath, CPI (M)'s P Suganthi, and NTK's Janakiraman.

As regards Dharapuram, P Sathyabama (TVK), S Suganya (DMK), K Bhanumathi (AIADMK), P Lakshmanan (CPI) and M Karthika (NTK) are the key contestants out of the total 22 nominees contesting in the bypoll. In Thattanchavady, although a total of 11 candidates are in the fray, the battle is being seen as a 3-cornered one between ruling AINRC-led NDA, the Congress and its former ally DMK.

The elections are Vijay-led minority TVK regime's first electoral litmus test after it formed the government in May and a win is important as it needs numbers to get close to the majority mark in the Assembly.

The outcome of bypolls is crucial for the main opposition DMK too as this is the first time the McK Stalin-led party has faced the polls, after a long time, without the backing of erstwhile allies including the Congress, VCK, and Left parties.

TVK formed its first government with the support of Congress, VCK, and IUML in addition to outside backing from the Left parties. The Left Front, which neither joined the TVK-led alliance nor the government, turned critical of the actor-turned politician-led government on several issues and fielded candidates for bypolls.

Although the CPI and CPI (M), who have four MLAs, have time and again committed themselves to continue to support the government from outside, the fact that they have been pretty critical of the TVK and its governance model have led to questions over the stability of the nearly five-month old new regime.

As regards the AIADMK, which ruled Tamil Nadu for over three decades is under immense pressure to make an electoral comeback.

In the 234-member strong Tamil Nadu Assembly where 118 is the simple majority, after resignations by legislators, seven vacancies arose.

While CM Vijay retained Perambur constituency and resigned the Tiruchirappalli (East) seat, AIADMK's Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), Sathyabama (Dharapuam), S Jayakumar (Perundurai), Esakki Subaya, (Ambasamudram), C Vijayabhaskar, (Viralimalai) and M R Vijayabhaskar, (Karur) resigned their seats.

Presently the TVK has 107 MLAs (including Speaker), DMK 59, AIADMK 41, Congress 5, PMK 4, CPI and CPI (M) two each, VCK 2 and IUML 2. BJP, DMDK, AMMK have one MLA each. Subsequently, the effective House strength is 227.