VELLORE: With the campaign beginning to gather pace, amid din and dust over the Lok Sabha polls in Vellore and Arakkonam constituencies in Vellore district, at Sholingur Assembly segment where the bypolls was necessitated by the disqualification of NG Parthiban owing allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, caste equations are a major factor to decide the fate of the contestants.
AIADMK has fielded Sampath while Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) fielded TG Mani to the April 18 polls.
DMK is contesting for the first time in several decades as its leader Ashokan entered into the fray. In the past elections, DMK had generously allocated the seat to its allies, particularly Congress and Tamil Maanila Congress.
The statistics of results in past elections show that Congress has won elections six times, AIADMK five times, DMK, TMC and DMDK one each in Sholingur segment where Mudaliyar, Vanniyar and Dalits are in sizable population with the might to swing the votes to decide the fate of the candidates in the fray.
“Be it Mudaliyar or Vanniyar or Dalits, they are in considerable numbers in the constituency. The caste factor plays a key role in deciding the victory of the candidates,” said a political observer.
The constituency has an electorate of 2.59 lakh.
The major issues that are going to reflect in the polls are the creation of a separate Taluk, a municipality, better rail connectivity and ring road.
The people in the segment have been demanding a separate Taluk with Sholingur as its headquarters but seemed fell in deaf ears. So is the case with the demand for a municipality, which can cater to the requirement of basic amenities in a better way.
A rail link connecting Tindivanam and Nagari via Sholingur has been put on the back burner for long.
“It is actually a very good project providing connectivity to several areas in the region. But it seems Railways have abandoned,” Naina Masilamani, president Arakkonam Rail Passengers Association, told Express.
The project was aimed at providing connectivity to Nagari, Tiruttani, Sholingur, Gingee and Tindivanam.
The rope car facility at the Lakshminarasmha Swamy temple in Sholingur is hanging in the balance as the project work is left halfway.
Construction of an outer ring road to decongest Sholingur town remains on paper despite several representations to the concerned authorities.
“The outer ring road to provide connectivity to Tiruttani and Chittoor roads can ease the congestion in the town. Frequent traffic snarls during peak hour is a big head ache for motorists every days,” said Ravichandran, a resident of Sholingur.
Factfile