Erode East bypoll: Congress’ EVKS Elangovan wins by record margin of 66,000 votes

With this victory, Elangovan would be entering the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly for the second time after 34 years.

The victory was a much needed boost to Elangovan whose last outing in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls did not yield success as he was defeated by AIADMK’s O P Raveendranath at Theni. It is to be noted that he was the only candidate in the DMK-led alliance to face defeat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Erode East assembly constituency fell vacant following the demise of Congress MLA and Elangovan’s son Thirumahan Everaa. The by-election was held on February 27 where 74.79 per cent of votes were polled.

Barring AIADMK, which secured a distant second, none of the other parties garnered a large vote share. Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi came third with a little over 10,000 votes.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister MK Stalin claimed that the victory is an endorsement the people of the constituency have provided to the 20-month-long Dravidian model of governance of DMK while the Congress candidate Elangovan said the result is a precursor to the Lok Sabha polls.

He thanked all the DMK, Congress leaders, and cadres for making the victory possible and he even extended an invite to Makkal Needhi Maiam leader Kamal Haasan, who campaigned for him, to join the DMK-led alliance in the 2024 polls.

On the other hand, Leader of Opposition and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) came down heavily on the DMK government by accusing them of misusing authority and money power.

Placing a series of allegations on the ruling government, EPS claimed that the DMK government has committed a murder of democracy in the bypoll. He claimed that the people were provided cash and gifts and confined in almost 120 temporary shelters and were threatened to vote in favour of Congress candidate. He further alleged that despite several complaints, the Election Commission did not take any action against violations committed by the DMK and Congress functionaries.