TVK Heads For Wins In TN Bypolls, AINRC Retains Puducherry Seat

Tamil Nadu's ruling on Friday TVK appeared all set to win the bypolls to Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies as the margin between the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led party and its nearest rival DMK continued to widen counting of votes progressed towards completion.While the fortunes of TVK nominee in Dharapuram P Sathyabama initially witnessed a see-saw battle with the AIADMK surging to the first place following a number of rounds, subsequently she established a clear lead and towards the close of 20th round she was leading by 10,003 votes.

In Madurantakam, TVK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel maintained a steady lead from the beginning and by 12th round it was well over 13,000 votes. DMK nominee I Paranthamen continued to be at the second spot and the AIADMK candidate S Kanitha Sampath third.

As the initial trend favouring the TVK sustained, it appears that the Opposition allegations of horse-trading and betrayal has not cut ice with the voters. The CPI(M), which is supporting the government from outside had also made similar allegations.

Also, the DMK's attempt to win polls despite being deserted by long time allies including the Congress and IUML may prove to be a non-starter. This is the first time the DMK was fighting elections without the support of any key party like the Congress.

In neighbouring Puducherry, ruling AINRC emerged the winner in its first test of popularity after it assumed office months ago as its nominee Ashok Anand won the Thattanchavady bypoll by over 8,000 votes, defeating his nearest Congress rival E Vinayagam. DMK candidate K Sethu was pushed to the third spot.

In Tamil Nadu, as TVK seemed headed for a win in both seats, ruling party cadres burst firecrackers and distributed sweets.

If the TVK, which runs a minority government, wins the electoral race, its strength will go up in the Assembly by two and also be a morale booster ahead of expected bypolls for five more Assembly segments.

The TVK, with 107 MLas, survives based on the support of parties, including the Congress in addition to the outside backing of the Left parties.

In the 234-member TN Assembly, 118 is the simple majority mark and the effective strength now, following resignations, including by Vijay who won from two seats, is 227.

The emerging bypoll results favouring the TVK appear to usher in a new trend of a triangular contest with the actor-turned politician Vijay on the one side backed by allies and the Dravidian outfits of the DMK and AIADMK on the other side, albeit leading separate fronts.

In Madurantakam, TVK's Maragatham Kumaravel continued to be ahead right from the beginning. DMK's I Paranthamen and AIADMK's S Kanitha Sampath were at the second and third spots respectively.

Kumaravel's margin, which was over 6,000 votes by the fifth round, continued to grow bigger.

In Dharapuram, TVK's P Sathyabama, who at one stage was trailing behind AIADMK's K Banumathi, received more votes in subsequent rounds and she is leading the race by a margin of over 5,400 votes. While the DMK nominee S Suganya was at the third spot, she later moved on to the second, pushing the AIADMK to the third place.

The candidates of the Left Front, which is facing the polls on its own in both Madurantakam and Dharapuram, could not cross even 1,000 votes after six rounds.

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

As regards Dharapuram, Sathyabama, Suganya, Bhanumathi, P Lakshmanan (CPI) and M Karthika (NTK) are the key contestants out of the total 22 nominees contesting in the bypoll.

Dharapuram's electorate comprises 2,23,306 voters and of them, men are 1,07,285, women 1,16,013 and 8 are third gender and 80.30 per cent of them had exercised their franchise on October 6.

In Madurantakam, the total number of voters are 2,13,788 (Men, 1,04,926, Women 1,08,797 and Third gender 65), and 86.26 per cent of them had cast their votes.

In the 234-member strong Tamil Nadu Assembly, after resignations by legislators, seven vacancies arose.

While CM Vijay retained the Perambur constituency and resigned the Tiruchirappalli (East) seat, AIADMK's 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 the 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 M

Bypolls were announced by the EC for Madurantakam and Dharapuram (both reserved segments) as petitions related to the resignation of MLAs and connected matters were pending before the Madras High Court. Both Kumaravel and Satyabama, earlier elected on AIADMK ticket in the April polls, later resigned as legislators and joined the TVK.

Establishing its dominance, the ruling AINRC in neighbouring Puducherry retained the Thattanchavady Assembly segment, considered party founder and Chief Minister N Ranagsamy's pocket borough and vacated by him post April 9 elections in the Union Territory.

Bypoll to Thattanchavady was necessitated after Rangasamy resigned from here following his win from Mangalam also.

Ashok Anand, who secured 13,358 votes, won by a margin of 8,482 votes after a total of four rounds of counting. Vinayagam secured 4,876 votes, and DMK's K Sethu alias Sethuselvam polled 2,664 votes, according to the EC.