Tamil Nadu assembly by-poll: Congress’s Elangovan set to win big

According to the Election Commission of India website, Congress’s EVKS Elangovan received 67.48% of the votes until 2pm

Congress’s EVKS Elangovan appeared set to win the assembly by-poll to Tamil Nadu’s Erode East seat by a huge margin.

Elangovan credited his lead to chief minister M K Stalin’s work. (ANI)

According to the Election Commission of India website, Elangovan received 67.48% of the votes until 2pm. His closest rival, K S Thennarasu, of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), managed just 22.83% of the votes.

In the 2021 assembly poll, Elangovan’s son, Thirumahan Everaa, won the seat by a margin of 8,904 votes defeating AIADMK’s M Yuvaraja. Everaa’s death in January necessitated the by-poll. Thennarasu won the seat in 2016 by a thin margin of 7,794 votes.

The by-poll was the first election since Edappadi Palaniswami became the sole leader of AIADMK as its interim general secretary with the end of the dual leadership and expulsion of O Panneerselvam.

Thennarasu, who left the counting centre as Elangovan was leading, said democracy has lost. “Money has won.”

Elangovan credited his lead to chief minister and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M K Stalin’s work. “People have given us this victory because he has fulfilled 80% of the election promises he made over 20 months of his governance,” Elangovan said.

Elangovan said he was not in a position to celebrate but he will complete the works his late son started.