EVKS Elangovan, the DMK-Congress alliance candidate, is leading the Erode East Assembly bye-polls with 82,876 votes as of 8:00 pm according to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)’s KS Thennarasu is trailing behind, having secured only 32,240 votes. The bye-election was held following the death of EVKS Elangovan's son and Congress legislator E Thirumahan Everaa in January this year.
The Naam Tamilar Katchi’s (NTK) candidate Menaka Naveneethan polled 7974 votes, so far, according to the ECI website. The bye-poll was contested by 77 candidates which also included Vijayakant’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) and 48 independent candidates. Actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, extended their support to the DMK-Congress alliance.
Despite the high number of candidates in the fray, the battle was expected to be confined between the DMK-Congress and AIADMK. EVKS is also the grandson of Dravidian leader Periyar who himself hails from Erode. In the 2021 Assembly polls, Thirumahan Everaa had won the Erode East seat by a margin of 8,904 votes defeating the nearest candidate, M Yuvaraj, of the Tamil Manila Congress (TMC), which was part of the AIADMK coalition.
While the result of the bye-polls will not have any impact on the DMK-led government, it was seen as a prestige battle for both DMK and AIADMK. For the AIADMK, the Erode East bye-poll provided an opportunity to settle the leadership dispute between interim General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswamy and deposed coordinator O Pannerselvam. In the run-up to the polls,the OPS faction of the AIADMK had fielded Senthil Murugan as its choice of candidate and later withdrew on the advice of the BJP. The Supreme Court’s intervention helped the EPS faction to secure the two leaves symbol for its candidate KS Thennarasu.
The DMK viewed the bye-poll as an, “evaluation of the Dravidian Model”, Chief Minister MK Stalin said on March 2 at a press meet adding, “the people have evaluated us and given us an immense victory. The results are a prelude to the victory we will get in the Lok Sabha elections coming soon.” The Lok Sabha polls are set to take place in 2024.
In a statement released in the evening, the EPS claimed that “People are aware that the DMK regime has been engaged in anti-people and anti-democratic activities.” EPS also claimed that the ruling-party had “intimidated” people into voting for them.
The Erode East bye-poll saw a voter turnout of 74.69% on Monday, February 27. While the bye-poll result will have no immediate impact on the state's present political landscape, it was expected to set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.