Actor turned politician Kamal Haasan has announced that his political party, Makkal Needhi Maiam, will not contest in the upcoming bye-elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. On Saturday, the Election Commission announced bye-elections in Nanguneri and Vikravandi – two Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu – as well as in Kamaraj Nagar in Puducherry on October 21. On Sunday, Kamal declared that his party will not contest the upcoming bye-elections, as he believed it would just be a power struggle between the ruling AIADMK and the main opposition party, DMK.
“Makkal Needhi Maiam does not want to be a part of this corrupt political struggle in the name of bye-elections to Nanguneri and Vikkaravandi. It is evident that the bye-elections will be nothing more than a power struggle between the ruling party (AIADMK) and the party which ruled earlier (DMK) to retain their positions and power,” Kamal’s statement read.
He added that MNM was focused on the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. According to his statement, Makkal Needhi Maiam is working towards getting the support of the people of the state to form a government in 2021, thereby removing the “old, redundant and corrupt political parties to offer good governance that Tamil Nadu’s people deserve.”
Meanwhile, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam or AMMK, the breakaway faction of the AIADMK will also not contest the bye-polls in Nanguneri and Vikravandi. Addressing their cadre in Bengaluru, AMMK’s general secretary and RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran stated that the party will refrain from contesting as it was yet to formally be assigned a permanent symbol by the Election Commission.
Earlier, the election commission allotted the ‘gift pack’ symbol to AMMK’s 59 candidates who contested in the Lok Sabha elections and bye-polls to the 22 Assembly seats. However, the party is not registered to receive a permanent symbol.
“Our registration process is not complete yet and hence we cannot contest the bye-elections without recovering a permanent symbol. There is a waiting period for no objections and that status you would have seen on the website. It is unlikely that it will be completed before the date of nominations and hence we can only contest once we receive the symbol,” TTV told media persons in Bengaluru.
Earlier both Makkal Needhi Maiam and AMMK had refrained from contesting the Vellore Lok Sabha elections which was postponed and later rescheduled for August 5. Originally scheduled for April 2019, elections to the Vellore Parliamentary seat were cancelled following multiple reports of cash for votes and a search-and-seizure by the I-T department in a cement godown. The decision brought Tamil Nadu into national notoriety as this was the first instance in the country where polls to a Parliamentary constituency were cancelled because of corruption.
With the elections announced on August 5, the MNM had cited similar reasons – wanting to focus on the 2021 Assembly elections to effect a change in the governance. TTV Dhinakaran too had stated that the AMMK high command wished to wait for a formal party symbol before contesting any election.
Bye-elections in Nanguneri Assembly constituency are being held to replace H Vasanthakumar of the Congress party after he was elected as MP from the Kanyakumari constituency. In Vikravandi, elections are being held due to the death DMK MLA K Radhamani.
In Puducherry’s Kamaraj Nagar constituency, V Vaithialingam of the Congress party resigned from the post after he was elected as MP from Puducherry constituency in the Parliamentary elections.
The Election Commission announced that the filing of nominations will commence on September 23 and end on September 30. The votes will be counted on October 24.