ERODE: After a month of drama and high-decibel campaigning, Erode East goes to the polls on Monday. The by-election was necessitated by the death of incumbent MLA E Thirumahan Everaa of the Congress on January 4. While there are 77 candidates in the fray, the contest is expected to be between the deceased MLA’s father EVKS Elangovan (74) of the Congress, fielded by the DMK-led Secular Progressive alliance, and AIADMK’s K S Thennarasu (70), a two-time MLA.
Menaka Navaneethan (36) of Naam Tamilar Katchi and S Anand (43) of DMDK are among the other contenders. Both Dravidian majors have treated the election as a referendum on the DMK government, although the AIADMK’s campaign was initially stymied by the leadership tussle between Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam.
Addressing reporters on Sunday, district election officer H Krishnan Unni said all arrangements are in place for smooth conduct of the election. The constituency has 238 polling booths for which 1,430 EVMs were despatched on Sunday from the Erode Corporation Office amidst tight security.
Krishnan Unni, who is also the district’s collector, and returning officer K Sivakumar monitored the process. “Of total polling booths, 32 have been identified as sensitive. CRPF personnel will be deployed at every polling booth with more than 1,200 voters,” said Unni.
‘796 complaints regarding violation of model code of conduct were received’
“Counting of votes will be held on March 2. Necessary security arrangements have been made in the counting centre,” Krishnan Unni said. “So far 796 complaints have been received regarding violation of model code of conduct. Action has been taken on most of the complaints. Political functionaries and public not related to the constituency left on Saturday evening. To confirm this, police conducted searches on hotels, hostels and lodges throughout the night on Saturday,” he added.
The DMK has spared no effort in campaigning in the constituency after offering the seat to the Congress again and convincing Elangovan to contest. In a surprise move, Makkal Needhi Maiam chief and actor Kamal Haasan, who had joined Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in his Bharat Jodo Yatra, also extended his support to the alliance. Meanwhile, there was high drama in the AIADMK camp from the day one.
The state unit of BJP named an election committee, giving rise to speculation that its president K Annamalai would enter the fray, before the party finally said it would back the Two Leaves symbol. Meanwhile, EPS, the interim general secretary, convinced ally TMC chief GK Vasan to concede the seat to them. Political observers noted the election is crucial for EPS amid the battle for party leadership with OPS. EPS’ pick - and the party’s final candidate - Thennarasu has won in the constituency in 2016 and was elected from the Erode assembly seat in 2001.
The NTK landed in controversy and its chief co-ordinator Seeman was booked under SC/ST Act for his remarks against the Arunthathiyar community. Stones were pelted during his campaign meeting on February 22 evening, injuring four persons before the police dispersed the crowd. Menaka Navaneethan subsequently lodged a complaint to the election commission, alleging that police were hindering their campaign. Krishnan Unni noted there are 1,10,713 male voters, 1,16,140 female voters, and 23 third gender voters, totalling 2,26,898 voters, in the constituency. “If anyone tries to cast bogus votes, they will be caught and stringent action will be taken,” he warned.