Chennai, Oct 5:
The hustle and bustle of the high-decibel and no-holds barred campaign for the October six bypoll to two Reserved Assembly seats, Madurantakam and Dharapuram, came ended at 1800 hrs on Sunday evening.
As the curtains came down on the campaign, which was marred by strident personal and virulent attacks, the silent period came into effect setting the stage for polling in the two seats whihc would begin at 7.00 a.m on Tuesday.
The bypoll, being necessitated in just four months after Chief Minister Vijay formed the government with a stunning performance in April elections, will test the TVK’s governance which has come under sharp attack for not honouring its pre-poll promises and for non-waiver of crop loans in toto as promised.
While the bypolls was an early acid test for TVK on whether it can consolidate its position further based on Vijay’s charisma. The outcome of this polls was seen as a forerunner to the bye-election to the other five vacant seats. With many of the AIADMK members, including MLAs and former Ministers having defected and switched loyalties after the April polls, including a two-term former MLA today, a TVK victory in both Dharapuram and Madurantakam could possibly trigger more exodus from AIADMK towards the ruling dispensation, that would further dent Edappadi K Palaniswami’s imae within the AIADMK.
For the AIADMK, retaining the seats — considered as their strongholds — would demonstrate the party’s resilience and give a boost to general secretary Palaniswami, especially in the context of AIADMK suffering successive poll defeats and searching for answers to this riddle.
The bypoll will witness a five-cornered contest involving the ruling TVK, which has come under attack from the four other contesting parties, the main Opposition DMK, AIADMK, the two left parties CPI and CPI-M, which has entered the fray in one seat each despite offering outside support to the Chief Minister Vijay government, and Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) of actor-director Seeman.
As the campaign reached the final day, leaders–who had launched a broadside against TVK on various issues–of all the parties made a last ditch effort to woo the voters, by holding road shows, indulging in door-to-door campaigning and addressing rallies. Among those who campaigned included Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and TVK Founder VIjay, DMK President M.K.Stalin, AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K.Palaniswami, Seeman and left party leaders.
In a final effort, Vijay held a road show at Dharapuram for nearly three-four hours stretching to a distance of 30 km, during which he reached out to the people and also addressed them on a few occasions
to ensure a corruption-free governance. Later, Vijay and leaders of various parties also made a last ditch appeal to vote for their party candidates.
The entry of the Left Parties, which are contesting on its own, has converted the bypolls–seen as a referendum to the four-month-old Vijay government– into a five-cornered contest.
The entry of the left parties in the fray, while asserting that there would be no threat to the stability of the Vijay government and that their committed outside support to it would continue, has surprised not only the TVK but also other allies. However, they justified their decision saying they were not part of any of the three fronts headed by the formidable TVK, which has Congress, VCK and IUML, the DMK-led SPA, which faced post-poll desertions and now left with DMDK as its lone ally, and the AIADMK-heading NDA that also has BJP, PMK, which has decided not to support any party, and AMMK.
A total of 49 candidates(32 men, 17 women) are in the fray in the two seats which fell vacant following the resignation of Rebel AIADMK MLAs leading to the bypolls. While there at 27 candidates in Madurantakam (15 men, 12 women), a total of 22 candidates are contesting in Dharapuram (17 men, 5 women).
Those in the race in the tough contest are candidates of the ruling TVK, which had expectedly fielded turncoats Ms.K.Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam) and Ms.P.Sathyabama (Dharapuram) — who had held the seat before they quit the AIADMK and joined the TVK resulting in bypolls.
Apart from Maragatham Kumaravel, DMK’s I.Paranthaman, former MLA Ms.Kanitha Sampath of AIADMK, Ms.P.Suganthi of CPI-M and Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK)’s K,Janakiraman are in the fray in Madurantakam, while Sathyabama (TVK), Ms.S.Suganya (DMK), AIADMK’s Ms.K.Bhanumathi, P.Lakshmanan of CPI and NTK’s M.Karthika are the main contestants in Dharapuram. The rest were Independents.
Meanwhile, campaigning also drew to a close for the bypoll to the Thattanchavady Assembly constituency in neighbouring Puducherry, where a total of 11 candidates are in the fray. Among the key candidates in the four-cornered contest included ruling AINRC nominee and former MLA Ashok Anand, contesting as part of NDA, E Vinayagam of Congress contesting as an ally of the TVK,, DMK’s K Sethu alias Sethuselvam, and CPI’s A Mohamed Saleem.
The bypoll was caused following the resignation of Chief Minister and AINRC Founder N.Rangasamy, who had won from two seats in the April 9 elections, and chose to retain the Mangalam seat.