Tamil Nadu, August 7 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and DMK President MK Stalin, Chief Minister of Puducherry V. Narayanasamy after unveiling a statue of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam stalwart M Karunanidhi at the premises of the party's mouthpiece Murasoli headquarters in Chennai on Wednesday. (ANI Photo
The recently held Sagardighi Assembly by-election in West Bengal was closely watched (the Trinamool candidate lost to a left-backed Congress candidate and the BJP candidate). There was another by-election that did not miss attention, which was in Erode, Tamil Nadu. The DMK and left-backed Congress candidate secured 110156 votes in his favour of the total 170653 votes cast.
It appeared that the internal rift between O Panneer Selvam and Edappadi Palani Swami, both former chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and representing the AIADMK, cost the party badly, as had been predicted.
Avoiding multi-pronged contests by many parties seems to be the order of the day, while it may be coincidental that in both states, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the candidates from the Indian National Congress were endorsed by others with the objective of keeping the BJP at bay.
The outcome does not augur well for K. Annamalai, the youthful leader and a former IPS cadre officer who is now the Tamil Nadu state BJP chief. There have been murmurs of his growing clout, proportionate arrogance, and unilaterally taking decisions, disregarding many who have been loyal BJP activists for long.
Voters in Tamil Nadu, like in West Bengal, do not consider the BJP a local party, empathising with its core issues, save and except Modi, who continues to be a crowd puller in meetings, though such huge gatherings do not necessarily translate into votes. If midterm elections are called in these two states right now, the BJP will come in a distant third. Congress will continue to lag behind the BJP, despite the support rendered by others.
Be that as it may, the TN by-election saw as many as 77 candidates, many of them independents, which makes the election a mockery as any one of them, God forbid, dies, which could render cancellation of the election a very costly affair. The entire exercise would have to be initiated anew by the election commission.
NOTA had 797 strikes, and 73 candidates scored less than NOTA. Only 3 candidates significantly polled in noteworthy numbers: the winner, EVKS Elangovan, polled 110156 votes; Mr. Thennarasu from the AIADMK secured 43923 votes; and Menaka Navaneethan from the Naam Tamizar Katchi polled 10827 votes. The distant fourth was Anand S. from the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazagam, polling 1432 votes. Of the 74 low scorers, 62 of them in two digits, the lowest polled by M. Prabakran, Independent, was 3 votes (despite a big family?)
The deposits could be increased reasonably to discourage dummy candidates and those who contest for fun. Each of them is provided with a security cover, which itself is a symbol of status in political circles.
In contrast, Sagardighi had only 10 candidates, and 185142 votes were polled. Byron Biswas of the INC secured 87667, followed by Debasish Banerjee of the Trinamool Party polling 64631 and Dilip Saha of the BJP securing 25793. NOTA was 1337, and four contestants secured less than NOTA. There were only two independents.
Does the data show a more mature political scenario in West Bengal as compared to Tamil Nadu?
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
