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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
