TIRUPPUR: Dharapuram is returning to the polling booth within months, but the demands awaiting its next MLA are years old. Farmers want reliable water supply to Uppar Dam, traders a new bus terminus, and residents relief from traffic congestion.
For a town that became a municipality in 1866, the same year as Coimbatore, the wait for better infrastructure has been long. While Coimbatore emerged as an industrial hub, Dharapuram remains largely agrarian, still seeking rail connectivity and improvements to its roads and water supply. Yet, much of the campaign for the bypoll has revolved around why its last elected representative changed parties.
P Sathyabama, who won the reserved constituency on an AIADMK ticket in the April election, resigned as MLA on May 25 and joined the TVK. She is now running for re-election, facing a tough contest from AIADMK’s K Banumathi and DMK’s S Suganya.
The election offices of the three parties stand close to one another on the same road in Dharapuram. Each camp exudes confidence, but Sathyabama has had to defend her resignation before voters as well as counter the opposition parties’ attacks.
The ruling TVK is counting on the personal appeal of Vijay to secure victory against the Dravidian rivals, despite having finished a distant third in the Assembly elections. On his campaign trail, the TVK chief strongly criticised the DMK and AIADMK for levelling baseless allegations against Sathyabama. Vijay described Sathyabama as a steadfast loyalist of former CMs M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, dismissing claims that she switched sides for financial or material benefits.
Apart from combating accusations of being a political turncoat, Sathyabama is also dealing with pushback from Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) farmers, who are aggrieved by decisions allegedly made to benefit farmers from the Uppar Dam region.
While Vijay’s initial campaign push has successfully energised the TVK’s voter outreach, party organisers are optimistic that the Sunday roadshow across the constituency will effectively blunt the negative propaganda against Sathyabama that has gained some traction among a section of voters.
Backed by its traditional voter base in the constituency, which has 35% Gounder electorate and equal number of Scheduled Caste (mostly Arunthathiyar) voters, the AIADMK is determined to punish the TVK for ‘luring’ away its legislator.
The party’s morale has been significantly boosted by the two-phase campaign led by general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, but the absence of regional heavyweight, former minister S P Velumani, on the ground, is proving to be a dampener.
During his campaign, EPS said, “The bypoll was forced upon us by horse-trading. Voters must use this bypoll to teach a lesson to the traitor, Sathyabama, who won on an AIADMK ticket only to defect to TVK.”
AIADMK spokesperson Pongalur R Manikandan said, “The ground reality is currently favouring the AIADMK candidate. Public sympathy will undoubtedly translate into votes for us.”
DMK’s strategy
For the DMK, ex-ministers KN Nehru and MP Saminathan are actively leading the grassroots outreach. To break through opposition strongholds, former minister V Senthil Balaji has been assigned to oversee the Kundadam Panchayat Union, traditionally an AIADMK bastion, while 22 district secretaries have been given charge of other key areas.
The DMK’s primary strategy revolves around protecting its core voter base and winning over areas where it underperformed in the previous election. The party is already gaining significant momentum, driven by high-profile campaigns from DMK chief M K Stalin, youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin, and MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi.
Speaking to TNIE, former DMK minister Kayalvizhi N Selvaraj, who won the Dharapuram seat in 2021, expressed confidence that the DMK will win the bypoll. She said the voters are facing severe hardships due to frequent power outages, soaring electricity tariffs, and sharp rise in the cost of essential commodities. “This has never been the case under the DMK regime,” Kayalvizhi asserted.
Candidate P Muthusamy fielded by farmer leader C Nallasamy in the bypoll to draw the TN government’s attention to the Cauvery issue and permission for extraction and selling of toddy may split votes in the agrarian seat. NTK candidate M Karthika and CPI candidate P Lakshmanan are also in the fray.
The constituency — which includes 30 wards of the Dharapuram municipality, five town panchayats, and several villages — is struggling with poor development due to chronic traffic congestion within the municipality and a long-delayed eastern ring road project. The constituency also suffers from a lack of rail connectivity and shortage of major industries. Voters strongly expect their new MLA to resolve these issues immediately.