Writing on the wall: Vellore move into poll mode

A perfect case is Kallur hamlet in Seevor village panchayat near Gudiyattam, where walls of houses and buildings are already filled with symbols of the two Dravidian majors – DMK’s ‘Rising Sun’ and AIADMK’s ‘Two Leaves.’

Though it is a clear violation as per election commission norms, DMK Gudiyattam panchayat union secretary V Ramu defends it saying, “It is not an issue at all in rural areas as we know for sure the party affiliation of house owners and pick the right wall. Either they themselves will paint the symbol or will allow us to paint it.”

The Dravidian parties in fact have stolen a march over other rival parties, both national and regional, by forming booth committees in all villages. They have also marked the walls for their parties in both Gudiyattam and Pernambut panchayat unions.

On the AIADMK side, district MGR Front president Kallur Balaraman said, “We have already identified party workers for each area and have explained the strategy of how to ensure massive victory of the party in all the segments.”

When pointed out about the show of strength by AMMK party, both Ramu and Balaraman said, “Dinakaran’s real strength will be known only after the bypolls. He is banking on the sole RK Nagar segment victory.”

Sometime back, the AMMK aimed at demonstrating its strength in the district organised a day-long fast highlighting the neglect of Gudiyattam constituency.

Over 1000 cadre took part in the fast, which concluded with a speech by party deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran.

Gudiyattam assembly constituency consists parts of Gudiyattam and Pernambut panchayat unions. Vellore district has three disqualified MLAs – NG Parthiban of Sholingur, P Balasubramani of Ambur and Jayanthi Padmanabhan of Gudiyattam.

It is likely to be triangular contest in the district. So, the poll battle will gain momentum once the date for the byelections is announced, say political observers.