CHENNAI : With the two Dravidian majors and the AMMK led by RK Nagar MLA TTV Dhinakaran having announced their candidates, bypolls to three constituencies - Perambur, Thiruporur and Poonamallee - are set to witness a three-cornered contest. Going by the electoral records of the three seats and vote share of parties obtained in the 2016 Assembly elections, the DMK has better winning prospects, compared to other two parties. As the election results may lead to change of regime in the State, the three constituencies will witness a tough battle.
The DMK’s failure in Perambur and Thiruporur in the 2016 Assembly elections by a meagre margin of 519 and 950 votes respectively drove home the significance of alliance during elections. “The CPM candidate, who faced the elections as part of the Makkal Nala Koottani, has got 10,281 votes. Allying with the DMK and AIADMK, we have romped home to victory in Perambur three times. The DMK will comfortably win this bypoll,” said a senior CPM leader.
Of the 11 Assembly elections conducted since 1971, the DMK and its allies have won in Perambur for seven times while the AIADMK and its allies succeeded for four times. The constituency accounts for a larger chunk of workers in North Chennai. AIADMK candidates P Vetrivel and M Kothandapani, who won the election, were later disqualified for shifting their loyalty to TTV Dhinakaran and are fielded by the AMMK now for the bypolls.
In Thiruporur, the AIADMK candidate polled 70,215 votes against the DMK candidate (69,265), registering victory by a margin of 950 votes. The PMK and MDMK (part of MNK alliance) received 28,125 and 25,539 votes respectively. Since 1971, both DMK and AIADMK each won the election in Thiruporur five times and PMK won just once in 2006, allying with the DMK.
Similarly, in the last Assembly election in Poonamallee reserved constituency, the AIADMK candidate, T A Elumalai, registered a victory by a margin of 11,789 votes against the DMK candidate. The PMK and MDMK have received 15,827 and 15,051 votes respectively. Interestingly, the Congress has registered victory in Poonamalle four times while the DMK and AIADMK won two and three times respectively.
Stakes high
Given that the bypolls, which are termed as a ‘mini-general election’ by parties, are conducted without the iconic leaders of both DMK and AIADMK, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, the two Dravidian majors are pinning hopes high on their alliance partners, particularly CPM, PMK and MDMK, which are expected to swing the results in favour of their electoral partners