The by-election held at Srirangam Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu on Friday saw 77 per cent of the electorate casting their votes. Interestingly, women outnumbered men in casting their votes. According to initial figures given by the election commission officials at Chennai, 77.8 per cent women voters turned out to vote while 75.9 per cent of the men cast their votes. Women outnumber men in the constituency.
The seat fell vacant following the sentencing and conviction of AIADMK general secretary J Jayalalithaa, by a Special Court in Bengaluru in the disproportionate wealth case filed against her by Subramanian Swamy, BJP leader in 1996. Jayalalithaa stood disqualified as elected representative following the court verdict and the legislature secretariat notified the vacancy.
The AIADMK has fielded S Valarmathy, a woman activist of the party while the DMK deputed N Anand, who had unsuccessfully contested against Jayalalithaa in the 2011 Assembly election. M Subramanian of the BJP, K Annadurai CPI(M) and 25 other candidates are also in the race. While the BJP is supported by DMDK led by Vijayakanth, the CPI(M) candidate has the support of fringe elements. Though the PMK and the MDMK who were with the BJP during the 2014 lok Sabha election has ditched the Hindutwa party, they are yet to decide their course of action and stayed away from Srirangam.
The main fight is between the AIADMK and the DMK. The only point of interest in this bypoll is whether the AIADMK succeeds in increasing the majority to more than 50,000 to show the world that the popularity of Amma has not waned.