VELLORE: DMK candidate DM Kathir Anand's low victory margin of just over 8,000 votes in the election to the Vellore Lok Sabha seat indicates all is not well with the Dravidian major.
Though the DMK alliance's strength in the Lower House of Parliament has risen to 39 (including Puducherry), the party's tepid performance in a traditional stronghold has raised doubts about the leadership of party chief MK Stalin.
“In the recent by-elections to four Assembly segments in the region, the DMK won three seats in places where its traditional support base is low. However, the party has a strong base in Vellore. It won in Gudiyatham and Ambur Assembly segments. Against this backdrop, the victory margin raises doubts about the leadership of DMK chief MK Stalin,” observed political analyst Ravindran Duraisamy.
“The result indicates he will not be able to steer his party to power in the 2021 Assembly elections,” he said.
However, there is an opinion that it is the Durai Murugan factor that played a larger role in the Vellore poll. The party candidate Kathir Anand is the son of the DMK treasurer.
“The DMK has not polled more votes because there is a kind of discontent against the candidate. As far as Vellore is concerned, the Durai Murugan factor has played a larger role than Stalin’s leadership,” argued Dr Ramu Manivannan, head of the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Madras University. He believed the poll outcome was not a reflection on the DMK leadership’s strength.
Stalin thanks voters for choosing DMK candidate
DMK president MK Stalin has thanked the voters of Vellore for electing the party’s candidate in the Lok Sabha election to the constituency.
“The ruling party approached the election using the government machinery while DMK had the support of only alliance parties and the people,” he said and hailed the party strategy and hard work of the cadre.
NOTA vs Win margin
The number of votes polled for the NOTA option – 9,417 votes – exceeded winning margin.
NTK gets boost
Naam Thamizhar Katchi secured 26,995 votes, a five-fold rise over 5,223 which it polled from the six Assembly segments under Vellore LS constituency in 2016.