Though Madurantakam and Dharapuram presented different political terrains, TVK won both seats with comfortable margins by fielding former AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama, who joined the ruling party just 20 days after the assembly election results in May. CHENNAI: TVK cleared its first litmus test barely five months after forming the govt in Tamil Nadu, winning the bypolls in two assembly constituencies.
In Madurantakam, Maragatham built a steady lead from the first round of counting and widened the margin in successive rounds, finishing with 74,048 votes, defeating DMK candidate I Paranthamen.
It is a verdict against derogatory remarks targeting women, personal attacks and betrayal,’’ chief minister C Joseph Vijay said in an X post. DMK president M K Stalin called it a “temporary victory for betrayal,” while AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the results were a “success of money power won by murdering democracy and duping people with reels”. “The entire credit goes to our leader’s (Vijay) good governance and his assurance of Madurantakam’s development,’’ she said. But people rejected the conspirators,’’ said state revenue minister K A Sengottaiyan.
“This is a victory for political decorum and personal decency. In the case of DMK, the drop was attributed to absence of key allies — Congress, VCK, IUML, MDMK and Left parties. CPM had fielded its own candidate here, while the other former allies are now backing TVK. “There was a conspiracy to undemocratically defeat Sathyabama.
The Oct 6 bypolls proved that wresting the two seats from the AIADMK was no cakewalk, despite an intensive campaign by chief minister C Joseph Vijay, who took to the skies in a helicopter and the roads to reach voters in the two constituencies. The wins raised TVK’s strength in the Tamil Nadu assembly from 107 to 109, but the margins offered little evidence of the sweeping mandate the party had sought.
Political analysts said the results present a mixed picture for TVK. the winning margin was modest, considering the projections of one lakh vote margin by leaders such as Aadhav Arjuna, poll watchers said While it was no surprise for a ruling party to win the bypoll. PMK’s decision not to support any party also worked to TVK’s advantage. A shift in a section of vanniyar votes, along with support from the VCK’s traditional vote base, helped strengthen its position in the multi-cornered contest.
Earlier reporting noted: CHENNAI: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s twin victories in Madurantakam and Dharapuram came as no surprise, but the scale of the wins fell short of the landslide its leadership had promised. Earlier reporting noted: This time, it entered the fray with the backing of its former allies, VCK, Congress, IUML and MDMK, under the Secular Social Justice Victory Alliance.