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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.
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.
“Another reason is that we [Congress] are a secular alliance [with DMK]. Tamil Nadu’s people support and love Rahul Gandhi and appreciate his [Bharat Jodo] Yatra. This is a precursor for our win in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”
Elangovan said he was not in a position to celebrate but he will complete the works his late son started.
