DMK wins Erode East, maintains winning streak ahead of 2026 TN Assembly polls
Erode (Tamil Nadu), Feb 8 (PTI): The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu extended its winning run in elections on Saturday by emerging victorious in the Erode East bypoll with a massive margin against actor-politician Seeman's NTK, a victory that should come as a major boost to the M K Stalin-led party ahead of next year's Assembly elections.
DMK's V C Chandhirakumar trounced Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) M K Seethalakshmi by a margin of 91,558 votes. In the process, NTK, a Tamil nationalist organisation, forefeited deposit.
With 44 other candidates-- most of them independents, in fray, NOTA (None of the Above) grabbed the third place with 6,109 votes.
Chandhirakumar polled 1,15,709 votes while Seethalakshmi came a distant second with 24,151 votes.
The winning candidate later said the DMK has secured "75 per cent of the votes."
"I dedicate this victory to the Chief Minister (Stalin). People have reposed faith in the DMK, the CM and deputy CM (Udhayanidhi Stalin)," he told reporters.
The victory sparked jubilation among DMK supporters in Erode and elsewehere. At the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, DMK workers celebrated the win by bursting crackers.
The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA from the segment, EVKS Elangovan last year.
The Congress is a part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the state and the seat was won by the national party's E Thirumahan Everaa in 2021 elections. Following his death in January, 2023, his father Elangovan won the bypoll held in March that year.
The February 5 elections that saw DMK and NTK lock horns was fought in the background of a rivalry between the two parties over Seeman's vehement criticism of EV Ramasamy 'Periyar' recently. The Dravidian stalwart is a highly respected figure in Tamil Nadu and founded the rationalist organisation Dravidar Kazhagam, the ideological fountainhead of DMK.
Incidentally, Erode is the native district of Ramasamy.
DMK's triumph, more or less anticipated even as AIADMK and BJP boycotted the hustings, follows the ruling party-led coalition's stunning 2024 Lok Sabha polls show, where it won all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, besides netting the lone Puducherry segment.
Assembly elections are scheduled both in Tamil Nadu and the Puducherry union terriory next year. The DMK is keen to retain power in TN, after sweeping the elections in 2021 that ended its 10 year-long stint in the opposition. DMK and its allies had won 38 of the 39 LS seats in the 2019 parliamentary polls as well. The ruling party had retained the Vikravandi Assembly seat in a bypoll held last year.
It swept the local body elections held in the state after coming to power.
Earlier in the day, the counting of polled votes began at 8 am at a government college in Chithode in this district.
Postal ballots were taken up for counting first.
The polling on Wednesday witnessed a voter turnout of 67.97 per cent.
The rest of the candidates in the fray put up a poor show, with some of them getting votes in double digits.
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Sujit Nair raises concerns over speculation of DMK-AIADMK understanding to block TVK
Chennai: Journalist and political commentator Sujit Nair has expressed concern over speculation that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam could explore a post-poll understanding to prevent Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam from forming the government in Tamil Nadu.
In a social media post, Sujit Nair said the election verdict in Tamil Nadu reflected a clear public demand for political change and argued that the mandate should be respected irrespective of political preferences.
Referring to reports and political discussions surrounding a possible understanding between the DMK and AIADMK, he said he hoped such developments remained only speculative conversations and did not turn into reality.
Nair stated that if such an alliance were to take shape, it would raise serious questions about ideological politics in the country. He said TVK had emerged through a democratic electoral process and that the legitimacy to govern in a parliamentary democracy comes from the people’s verdict.
According to him, attempts to prevent an electoral winner from forming the government through unexpected political arrangements may be constitutionally valid, but many people could view them as politically opportunistic.
He further said that such a move could particularly affect the political image of the DMK, which has historically projected itself around ideology, social justice and opposition politics. Nair said that in ideological terms, the DMK appeared closer to TVK than to the AIADMK, and joining hands with its long-time political rival only to remain in power could weaken its broader political narrative.
He added that the same questions would apply to the AIADMK as well, as the party had spent decades positioning itself against the DMK and such an arrangement could create discomfort among its cadre and supporters.
Drawing a comparison with Maharashtra politics in 2019, Nair said he had expressed similar views when the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party after the Assembly elections.
He said post-poll alliances between long-standing political rivals often create a public perception that ideology and electoral mandates become secondary when political power equations come into play.
Nair also said such developments increase public cynicism towards politics and reinforce the belief among voters that ideology is often sidelined after elections.
He maintained that the Tamil Nadu verdict was emphatic and said respecting both the spirit and substance of the mandate was important for the credibility of democratic politics.
