Dharapuram, Oct 6:
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate P Sathyabama has expressed confidence that she will win the Dharapuram Assembly by-election by a margin of one lakh votes. She made the claim after casting her vote at the Madukampalayam polling station on Tuesday morning.
Polling for the Dharapuram and Madurantakam Assembly constituencies began at 7 am on Tuesday and voters turned up in large numbers in the early hours. The bypolls are being closely watched as the first major electoral test for Chief Minister and TVK leader Vijay after the party formed the government in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to reporters after voting, Sathyabama was asked about a video that had gone viral on social media in which she purportedly spoke about spending Rs 31 crore during the previous election. She dismissed the video as a manipulated version of her remarks and said it would have no impact on the by-election.
Sathyabama said those behind the circulation of the video had been identified and alleged that the controversy was being created because of her strong chances of victory. She maintained that the issue had been raised from the beginning of the campaign and that the contents of the video had been distorted.
“People are clear,” she said, adding that she was confident of winning the election by a margin of one lakh votes.
Sathyabama, a former AIADMK MLA, is contesting the by-election as the TVK candidate under the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance. She had resigned as MLA and joined TVK before the by-election. The contest in Dharapuram is primarily a five-way battle involving TVK’s Sathyabama, DMK’s S Suganya, AIADMK’s K Bhanumathi, CPI’s P Lakshmanan and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s M Karthika. A total of 22 candidates are in the fray.