Stalin makes an emotional pitch as campaign for bye-election ends

Amid allegations of massive inducements to voters, including cash, silver ornaments and kitchen appliances, by contesting political parties, the high-voltage campaign to the Erode (east) bypoll ended on Saturday with Chief Minister M K Stalin making an emotional appeal to the voters, saying the town was “part of my soul.”

The bypoll, which was necessitated due to the sudden death of Congress legislator Thirumahan E Ve Ra in January, will be held on February 27. Though 77 candidates are in the fray, the contest is between Congress’s E V K S Elangovan, father of the deceased legislator, and AIADMK’s K S Thennarasu, with nominees of Tamil nationalist outfit NTK and DMDK of actor Vijayakant on the sidelines.

While the bypoll will be the first major popularity test for the 20-month-old Stalin government, the results are equally important for the AIADMK whose leader Edappadi K Palaniswami has taken complete control of the principal Opposition party.

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Though the bye-election will have no bearing on the DMK government, the ruling party hasn’t taken any chances as it fielded almost the entire cabinet to campaign for Elangovan. The AIADMK also ensured that its senior leaders camped in Erode and campaigned for Thennarasu as EPS believes a victory or a “good show” will only help further consolidate his hold over the party.

“Erode is part of my soul. It was here where my father M Karunanidhi completed his schooling, and this is the same town where E V R Periyar was born. Erode is very significant for the DMK due to several reasons. I have come here to seek votes for Elangovan,” Stalin told a rally.

Elangovan is the son of E V K Sampath, one of the founders of the DMK and nephew of Periyar. “Karunanidhi’s son has come to seek votes for Sampath’s son. Ensure Elangovan’s victory by a huge margin so that the good work by Thirumahan continues,” the Chief Minister said.

Stalin also utilized the poll campaign to hand out an assurance that the poll promise of providing Rs 1,000 to women heads of families will be announced in the Budget, as AIADMK made “non-fulfilment” of the above-mentioned promise as a major poll plank. “The date for launching the scheme will be announced in the Budget. We would have done it long back if the AIADMK hadn’t left the coffers empty,” Stalin added.

The highlight of the election is the large-scale violations of the model code of conduct with television channels exposing cadres of political parties, especially the ruling DMK and AIADMK, inducing voters through money, silver ornaments, kitchen appliances, and sarees among other things.

A DMK MLA was seen openly asking people whether their people met them, in an oblique reference to paying them money for votes. AIADMK and DMK also released videos of the other inducing voters with money in Erode. Tamil Nadu has had a long history of bribing voters with elections to three assembly constituencies in 2016 and one Lok Sabha seat in 2019 rescinded by the Election Commission due to large-scale distribution of money. The bye-election to R K Nagar after J Jayalalithaa’s death was also rescinded for the same reason.

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Arappor Iyakkam, an anti-corruption NGO, demanded the cancellation of the poll due to the influence of money power, referring to reports that many gift items such as cookers, anklets, sarees etc are being distributed in the constituency to influence voters.

“It has become very clear that the undue influence of money power used by the major political parties has made a mockery of democracy and there is no possibility of a free and fair election,” the NGO said.

Palaniswami is making the bye-election into a referendum on the performance of the 20-month-old DMK government. Palaniswami, who is under pressure to prove his standing in the friction-ridden AIADMK, feels a victory in Erode (east) or significantly reducing the Congress’ candidate’s majority will set the tone for next year’s general elections.

The DMK too believes a victory with a huge margin in the bye-election will cement the party’s position ahead of next year’s general elections. The party has dispatched at least half-a-dozen ministers to Erode to work for the Congress candidate.

In the 2021 elections, Elangovan’s son, and Congress nominee, Thirumahan, won the seat dominated by Mudaliars and Muslims by over 7,000 votes.