Election from Vellore Lok Sabha Constituency which was rescinded following the seizure of a large cache of money from the residence and office premises of the DMK candidate would be held on August 5. Tamil Nadu is in the grip of another poll fever despite the fact that the result would not make any impact on national politics.
People are watching with interest whether the DMK would walk away with the seat as the party-led alliance won 37 of the 38 seats where election was held in the month of April 2019. The DMK-front’s only loss was at Theni where former union minister EVKS Elangovan was defeated by AIADMK’s Raveendra Kumar by a narrow margin.
Vellore which has a considerable Muslim population is a DMK stronghold. The party has fielded D M Kathir Anand, son of local DMK chieftain Durai Murugan . Murugan , deputy leader of the DMK in the assembly is a former PWD minister. The AIADMK has allocated the seat to the New Justice Party , one of the fringe groups in the region. A C Shanmugan founder of the NJP is contesting in the Two Leaves symbol of the AIADMK.
Next week will see Chief Minister Edappady Palamiswamy and Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin touring the constituency soliciting votes for the respective candidates. Most of the political observers are of the view that the DMK is likely to win in Vellore because there has been no major political changes in the State over the last two months which could make any impact in the political fortunes of the main contenders.
But K A Johny, political commentator and a keen DMK watcher chose to differ slightly from other analysts . “It is true that there is nothing against the DMK as of now. But Shanmugan , who owns a university and medical colleges is a rich man and in Tamil Nadu politics money matters a lot. You should take note of what happened in the case of T R Parivendhar, who contested from Perambalur under the DMK symbol. He won with a margin of more than 4 lakh votes though he is a non-entity in the State,” said Johny. Parivendhar owns the SRM University in Chennai and heads a party by name India Jananayaka Katchi. He was imprisoned in a cheating case for weeks by the Tamil Nadu Police but still managed to win the election, pointed out Johny.
The Vellore election is a precursor to the two Assembly by-elections to be held from Tamil Nadu. Nanguneri assembly constituency fell vacant following the resignation of Vasanth Kumar (Congress) who was elected to the Lok Sabha while K Radhamani, the DMK legislator representing the Vikravandi constituency died last month. Moreover, Tamil Nadu is getting ready for the local body elections which are long overdue.