TVK-led bloc faces first electoral test in bypolls today

CHENNAI: Four months after coming to power in its maiden electoral campaign, the TVK-led government headed by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay faces its first major test in Tuesday's bypolls to the reserved constituencies of Dharapuram and Madurantakam.

The TVK won 107 seats in the Assembly, 11 short of a majority, and is dependent on allies. For principal opposition DMK, the bypolls are an opportunity to demonstrate its strength to stage a comeback, while AIADMK is seeking to re-establish its presence in the two constituencies after its MLAs switched to TVK, triggering the vacancies.

The five-cornered contests have also put the spotlight on the Left parties. Though CPM and CPI extend outside support to the TVK government, they have fielded candidates and campaigned aggressively against the ruling party, accusing it of horse-trading and bribing voters. Seeman's NTK is the fifth major player in the contests.

TVK founder Vijay campaigned for two days each in Dharapuram and Madurantakam, holding roadshows and making local stops, including visits to a temple, a tea shop and a tractor ride, in an effort to connect with voters. DMK president MK Stalin campaigned for a day in each constituency. His remarks about the physical appearance of TVK's Dharapuram candidate P Sathyabama drew criticism from political parties.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami was the sole campaigner for his party in both constituencies and directly targeted Vijay during his campaign. The party's campaign, however, was affected by internal dissent, with Palaniswami keeping senior leaders SP Velumani, P Thangamani and CVe Shanmugam away from the campaign.

The opposition has alleged that the vacancies were created through "horse-trading" by TVK, forcing voters to return to the polls within months of the Assembly election. TVK has rejected the charge, saying the AIADMK MLAs resigned after becoming disillusioned with Palaniswami’s alleged attempts to join hands with the DMK.

TVK has fielded former AIADMK MLAs K Maragatham Kumaravel in Madurantakam and P Sathyabama in Dharapuram, both of whom resigned from the Assembly before joining TVK. They face DMK's I Paranthamen and AIADMK's Kanitha Sampath in Madurantakam, and DMK's S Suganya and AIADMK's K Bhanumathi in Dharapuram.

During the campaign, Vijay projected himself as the political inheritor of the welfare legacy of former AIADMK chief ministers MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, while positioning TVK as the principal alternative to DMK. Victory in the bypolls would provide a political boost to the four-month-old TVK government and strengthen its claim to have consolidated its position after the Assembly election.

The effective strength of the Assembly is currently 227. TVK has 107 MLAs, including the Speaker, followed by DMK with 59 and AIADMK with 41. Congress has five MLAs, PMK four, CPI and CPM two each, VCK two and IUML two. BJP, DMDK and AMMK have one MLA each.

The Chengalpattu and Tirupur district administrations have declared a local holiday on Tuesday to enable voters to exercise their franchise. Polling will be held from 7am to 6 pm, with arrangements made for peaceful voting.

A total of 27 candidates are in the fray in Madurantakam, where 2,12,639 voters will exercise their franchise at 268 polling stations. Dharapuram has 30 candidates, with 2,22,406 electors eligible to vote at 282 polling stations.