VELLORE: The recent election to Vellore Lok Sabha constituency has revealed several interesting facts on how DMK failed to shine even in its traditional strongholds and score votes matching the tally in the recent byelections to two Assembly segments that fall under the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency.
Being a vocal and astute leader, Durai Murugan has been the face of DMK in Vellore. He has managed several elections but would have been stunned to see the voting pattern in the August 5 poll.
Even though his son was the candidate, his native villagers too seemed not enthused to vote for the family.
In Perumankuppam booth (158), AC Shanmugam of AIADMK polled more votes (505) than Kathir Anand who secured 401.
In Kangkuppam, Kathir Anand’s share is 433, which outnumbers Shanmugam’s 339 votes while the former received 328 votes against the latter’s 318 in Kangkuppam Colony booth.
Interestingly, the total votes secured by both the candidates in Durai Murugan’s native village are 1,162 each, according to the final result statistics.
These three booths are falling under KV Kuppam Assembly segment where AC Shanmugam fared better by scoring 80,100 votes while Kathir Anand netted 71,991 votes. Another Assembly segment where the scale tilted swiftly between Assembly bypolls and Lok Sabha elections is Gudiyatham.
In the April by-election, DMK’s S Kathavarayan had secured 1,06, 137 votes, defeating AIADMK candidate Kasba R Moorthy (78,296) by a margin of 27,841 votes.
However, the fortunes swung wildly to favour AC Shanmugam as he polled 94,178 votes whereas Kathir Anand got 71,991 votes in the same segment.
This shows the trend of voters quickly changing their perception on the candidates during the polls.
Despite the fact that Muslim-dominated Ambur and Vaniyambadi Assembly segments helped Durai Murugan’s son to scrape through, he polled lesser votes than what DMK candidate AC Vilwanathan secured in the April bypolls.
Kathir Anand’s tally in Ambur is 70,768 votes whereas his compatriot Vilwanathan received 96,455 votes.
“Our party top brass in the district will hold a review of the poll outcome soon to find out the weak spots so that they can be rectified in the future elections,” a DMK leader said.
The DMK managed to gain lead in Vellore, Vaniyambadi and Ambur to post a win by a slender margin of 8, 141 votes.
Discontent against Durai Murugan within his own party and his son’s not-so-cool approach are cited to be the factors, among others, that went against him.
“It is nothing but the discontent against Durai Murugan’s style of functioning and his caste inclination that pushed his son to the edge. Kathir Anand is not a cool man to deal with party cadre, this earned him the displeasure of people within in the party,” a political observer here said.
Mudslinging in AIADMK
Meanwhile, a blame game has begun in the AIADMK following the defeat in the election. A section in the party is pointing fingers at a local top party leader who occupies a position in the government as well.
Messages accusing him of having entered into a tacit understanding with Durai Murugan have been circulated on social media creating a flutter in the political circles.
They cite ineffective poll strategy, poor planning on utilising the ‘resources’ among others are cited to have cost the AIADMK dearly.