The ruling AIADMK on Monday won the Srirangam by-election with a record margin of more than 96,000 votes. Party candidate S Valarmathy was declared elected from Srirangam trouncing the opposition candidates which included DMK’s S Anand, BJP’s M Subramanian and the CPI(M)’s Annadurai.
The only point of interest in the by-election was whether the AIADMK candidate would get a majority bigger than what party general secretary Jayalalithaa got from here in the 2011 Assembly election. That issue was settled by 12.50 pm when Valarmathi overtook the figure of 41,800, the majority with which Jayalalithaa won in 2011.
Monday’s victory proved beyond doubt that the AIADMK is in command in Tamil Nadu and the public sympathy is with Jayalalithaa in spite of her conviction and sentencing in the Disproportionate Wealth Case, the verdict of which cost her the chief ministership as well as the membership of the State Assembly.
In a statement issued to the people of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa thanked the voters of Srirangam for electing the AIADMK candidate with record majority. “It is a sign that the AIADMK is the only political party in Tamil Nadu which has the support of people belonging to all sections of the society. This victory is yet another proof that despite the conspiracies hatched by evil forces against the party founded by late MGR, people in Tamil Nadu prefer only the AIADMK,” Jayalalithaa said in the statement.
The by election was necessitated by the disqualification of Jayalalithaa following her conviction by the Bangalore special court judge John Michael Cunha who found her guilty and sentenced her to four years imprisonment and a fine of Rs100 crore. Jayalalithaa is out on bail granted by the Supreme Court and her appeal against the Special Court verdict is pending in Karnataka High Court.
Since her conviction by the Bangalore court and release on bail by the apex court, the AIADMK general secretary has not moved out of her house at the Poes Garden in Chennai. Other than the occasional statement on party matters Jayalalithaa has not made even a public statement on any issues.
Jayalalithaa also stayed away from the entire Srirangam by-election process. She did not campaign though he has issued a statement to the voters requesting them to elect the AIADMK candidate. The entire AIADMK machinery under party’s presidium chairman E Madhusoodanan worked to ensure that the party candidate won by a record margin to prove that Amma continues to hold her sway in Tamil Nadu.
The BJP, which projected itself as an alternative to the AIADMK and the DMK finished a poor third, losing the security deposit. The CPI(M) candidate polled 1552 votes. Undeterred by the defeat of the party candidate, the CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said at Chennai that his party would offer a new political alternative to the people of Tamil Nadu.