ERODE: The Congress giving up Erode East Assembly seat to the DMK has not gone down well with the local functionaries and cadre of the grand old party, as they consider the seat as a sentimental one. The development has also shattered their hopes of retaining the constituency in the 2026 Assembly election.
Expressing his discontent, KN Basha, vice president of Congress Minority Wing in Erode, said, “Erode East was allotted to the Congress in 2021. So we have the right to contest in the by-election. As per the alliance dharma, the Congress should have been given the chance. It is disappointing that we have now given up the constituency that gave us consecutive victories. It will be difficult to get the constituency back from the DMK in 2026.”
HM Jafar Sadiq, zonal president of Erode Urban City Congress, said he has been with the party for the last 38 years and that the cadre are disappointed that the state leadership took the decision without consulting the local executives. “Ceding the constituency that we won for the coalition is unacceptable. It is equally distressing that the the DMK’s candidature was announced by the Congress state leadership.”
T Thiruselvam, Congress district president said, “Our state leadership may have taken this decision thinking that there could be a tough competition in the by-election. However, this has caused disappointment among party cadre.”
The Congress party was allotted 25 seats in the DMK coalition in the 2021 Assembly election, and the party managed to win in 18, including the Erode East constituency.
The constituency, formed in 2008, first faced the Assembly election in 2011. DMK contested directly in the Assembly election held in 2011 and 2016 but did not win. Subsequently, the constituency was allotted to the Congress in 2021 and the party won. That was the first victory for the DMK alliance in the Erode East constituency. Congress also won from the constituency in the by-election held in 2023.