High voltage campaign for Vellore Lok Sabha poll concludes

The elections that were earlier scheduled for April 18, but was rescinded following seizure of cash from the premises of DMK candidate Kathir Anand, who is the son of DMK treasurer and former minister Duraimurugan. He was retained as the candidate by the Opposition party.

The ruling AIADMK too renominated New Justice Party founder AC Shanmugam for the seat. The elections will witness a three-cornered contest, though the main fight will be between the AIADMK and the DMK. The third nominee in fray is Deepalakshmi from Seeman’s Naam Tamizhar Katchi. Twenty-eight candidates, including three women are in the fray, with a majority of them being independents. Actor Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam is not contesting the polls.

AIADMK co-cordinator and CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, coordinator and deputy CM O Panneerselvam and state Ministers campaigned for Shanmugam while DMK President MK Stalin led the campaign for Kathir Anand along with his son and DMK youth wing leader Udhayanidhi and others.

Though both the AIADMK and the DMK forged mega alliances for the recent Lok Sabha polls, none of the alliance party leaders campaigned in Vellore for both the parties.

The DMK-led alliance swept the Lok Sabha polls, winning 37 of the 38 seats and 13 of the 22 Assembly seats, while the AIADMK won one LS seat and nine Assembly seats, that ensured its government’s stability.

Palaniswami, who campaigned for three days, hit out at DMK and said Stalin’s dream of change of government after the recent bypolls to 22 Assembly seats, had been shattered by the people.

During the campaign, he slammed DMK as a ‘family party’, and sought the people’s support for AIADMK by focusing on his government’s performance.

Stalin countered it by saying that the AIADMK has failed to fulfill the promises and accused the ruling party of surrendering the State’s rights.

Vellore, being a Muslim-dominated constituency, the Triple Talaq Bill that was passed in Parliament, also dominated the fag end of the campaign, with the DMK accusing the AIADMK of adopting double standards on the issue, by supporting it in Lok Sabha and opposing it in Rajya Sabha.

The AIADMK deployed a 209-strong panel to oversee the poll preparations, while the DMK had a 71-member committee to oversee the elections. The DMK courted trouble from the Election Commission, after a marriage hall, at Ambur, in which Stalin addressed a meeting to seek the supportof the Muslim community, was sealed, as prior permission was not sought.