By-election in Erode East Sees Flurry of Nominations

Chennai: By-election to the Erode East Assembly constituency saw a flurry of nominations on the last day when the key contestant, former MLA and DMK candidate V C Chandrakumar, and the lone rival representing a registered party, M K Seethalakshmi of the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), filed their papers without much ado on Friday, along with 54 independents.

Seethalakshmi, in fact, walked alone holding her party flag aloft, to the Erode City Municipal Office to file her papers since the NTK’s request for a procession was rejected by the authorities, she told the media after submitting her nomination. Her party’s chief coordinator Seeman would launch his campaign once the scrutiny of nominations was over, she said.

By the end of the day, a total of 66 nominations had been filed for the February 5 by-election caused by the demise of the sitting MLA of the Congress party, E V K S Elangovan, on December 14. Though it was Elangovan’s son Thirumagan Evera who had won the seat on a Congress ticket in the general election in 2021, the alliance leader DMK was handed over the seat for contesting now by the Congress.

When Chandrakumar visited the Municipal Corporation office for filing his nomination, Elangovan’s other son Sanjay Sampaty also accompanied him. Chandrakumar, whose entourage was also small, comprising four or five persons due to the restrictions, told the media he would seek votes by highlighting the achievements of the DMK government, particularly the welfare schemes.

He said he had already visited nine of the total 33 wards in Erode East and that he would continue the good work started by Thirumagan Evera and Elangovan.

Joining the bandwagon of election boycotters, the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) made its stand clear through a statement issued by the party general secretary N Anand. Already, the AIADMK, BJP and DMDK had said that they were not fielding candidates as they feared the DMK to run roughshod over them by misusing its powers.

While the DMK that identified the candidate for the by-election first had already started the campaign, a statement issued by the State Minister for Adi Dravidar Welfare M Mathiventhan made waves even in the electoral waters.

Providing data, he explained how the educational and employment opportunities of the people of the Arunthadiyar community had gone up manifold after M Karunanidhi brought in the exclusive reservation for the community.

Retracing the history of social justice in the State and its link with the Dravidian movement, starting with the Justice Party, Mathiventhan said the community that was earlier part of the SC list found more opportunities after the exclusive quota was introduced.

It assumed importance since the Erode East Assembly constituency has about 35,000 votes belonging to the Arunthadiyar community, who are even otherwise considered to be loyal to the DMK.