CHENNAI: At a time when political parties are vying to win the bypoll to the Erode East Assembly constituency and amidst complaints that the ruling party might misuse official machinery and money power to win the election, it may be pertinent to note that former chief minister and AIADMK’s founder MG Ramachandran (MGR) had said a firm ‘no’ to the conduct of by-elections caused by reasons other than judgments from the court.
In 1981, Congress MLA from Tirupattur constituency in Sivaganga district (part of the then undivided Ramanathapruam district), Valmiki, passed away and the bypoll to this constituency was held on November 29 that year. This was the time the DMK was in alliance with Congress (I). Surprisingly, MGR announced that the AIADMK would not field its candidate in the by-election and that his party would extend full support to the Congress-I candidate.
At a press conference at Madurai, MGR had said the decision not to contest the by-election was taken based on the principle that unless the parliamentary or Assembly constituency fell vacant following a court judgment, the party which had won the seat earlier should be allowed to retain it. He also appealed to the union government to amend the election rules, giving the party which won in a general election a chance to retain the constituency for the full term.
MGR also said the decision not to contest the Tiruppattur by-election was taken to set an example to the other parties to adopt this ‘democratic principle’ and in deference to the appeal of former prime minister Indira Gandhi for support from all parties and all sections of the people.
At that time, the CPI State unit opposed the stand of MGR by describing it as ‘politics of convenience’. The then general secretary of BJP’s state unit Jana Krishnamurthi said MGR’s decision to support the Congress is not a surprising one since MGR had been desperately trying to revive his ties with that party for quite some time. He also said the support extended by the DMK and AIADMK to the Congress-I which has no strong presence in Tamil Nadu, revealed the weakness of Dravidian parties.
Interestingly, in 2008, former DMK president M Karunanidhi recalled MGR’s proposal for avoiding a by-election when the Thirumangalam constituency fell vacant following the death of MDMK MLA Veera Ilavarasu. He charged that instead of following her mentor’s advice on by-elections, the then leader of the AIADMK J Jayalalithaa had fielded her party candidate in Thirumangalam and she did not even allow MDMK to contest from that seat.
The PMK has been constantly saying that by-elections are a waste of public money and whenever an MLA dies or joins another party, the party which won from that constituency originally can send its representative as MLA. The PMK has stuck to this stand in the Erode East bypoll too. Veteran politician Thamizharuvi Manian, who is now Kamaraj Makkal Katchi chief, recalled why MGR decided to back the candidate of the Congress-I which was in power at the Centre. RN Arunagiri of Congress-I contested the by-election and MGR campaigned for him.
“The by-election came at a time when the AIADMK was trying to break the alliance between the DMK and Congress and to re-establish AIADMK’s ties with the Congress. I campaigned for Janata Party candidate Thirumal Yadav who lost his deposit in the by-election. Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy too campaigned for Yadav and criticised MGR for wantonly supporting the Congress-I without any invitation from the party,” Manian recalled.
Manian said in this Erode East bypoll, the AIADMK leaders should adopt the advice of their leader on avoiding by-elections and let the Congress field its candidate while all other parties should cooperate in electing that candidate unopposed to avoid unnecessary spending for conducting the election. Manian also said he is planning to file a public interest litigation to urge the ECI to consider this idea for avoiding by-elections.