Erode East byelection on February 27 in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: The Election Commission on Wednesday announced byelection to the Erode East constituency in Tamil Nadu on February 27. It follws the death of Congress MLA Thirumahan Everaa. Political parties in the state were taken by surprise by the announcement that came barely two weeks after the passing of the great grandson of social reformer ‘Periyar’ E V Ramasamy and son of former Union minister E V K S Elangovan.

With the DMK’s backing, the Congress is looking to retain the constituency, which is one of the 25 seats allotted to it in the DMK’s Secular Progressive Alliance. “We will decide on the candidature after a discussion with the party’s local office-bearers and state functionaries,” TNCC chief K S Alagiri told TOI. Elangovan too would be consulted before the candidate is shortlisted and recommended to the high command, said Alagiri. “We will discuss with our allies as well and announce a winning candidate based on unanimous decision,” he added.

Satyamurthy Bhavan, the TNCC headquarters, is buzzing with possible names, including that of Elangovan’s younger son Sanjay Sampath, for the bypoll in the Congress stronghold. The party polled 67,300 votes and wrested from the AIADMK the seat where gounders, mudaliyars, and minorities are numerically strong. In the rival camp, G K Vasan’s TMC, an ally of the AIADMK, had contested on the two leaves symbol and lost by a margin of 6% votes in 2021. It is not clear yet how the warring AIADMK groups are likely to handle the contest given the ongoing leadership battle being waged in the Supreme Court and before the Election Commission of India. Hours after the EC’s announcement, BJP’s TN president K Annamalai announced a state-level coordination committee for the byelection. The AIADMK did not contest the bypoll to the local bodies in June last year, despite former AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam offering to sign the authorisation forms for the party candidates to contest on the two leaves symbol. Edappadi K Palaniswami rejected the offer as OPS was no longer coordinator of the party and was expelled by the party general council. “It is alliance dharma to leave the seat to TMC but allotting two leaves to the TMC candidate depends on the outcome in the SC and the EC,” said a key associate of EPS.

TMC leader G K Vasan said the party was a constituent of the BJP-led NDA at the national-level and AIADMK in the state. “All our allies will have to sit and talk,” Vasan told TOI. TMC candidate and former youth Congress chief, M Yuvaraja conveyed his interest to contest again.