DMK wins Erode East, maintains winning streak ahead of 2026 TN Assembly polls

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu extended its winning run in elections on Saturday by emerging victorious in the Erode East bypoll with a massive margin against actorpolitician Seemans NTK a victory that should come as a major boost to the M K Stalinled party ahead of next years Assembly electionsDMKs V C Chandhirakumar trounced Naam Tamilar Katchis NTK M K Seethalakshmi by a margin of 91558 votes In the process NTK a Tamil nationalist organisation forefeited depositWith 44 other candidates most of them independents in fray NOTA None of the Above grabbed the third place with 6109 votesChandhirakumar polled 115709 votes while Seethalakshmi came a distant second with 24151 votesThe winning candidate later said the DMK has secured 75 per cent of the votesI dedicate this victory to the Chief Minister Stalin People have reposed faith in the DMK the CM and deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin he told reportersThe victory sparked jubilation among DMK supporters in Erode and elsewehere At the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai DMK workers celebrated the win by bursting crackersThe bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA from the segment EVKS Elangovan last yearThe Congress is a part of the DMKled Secular Progressive Alliance SPA in the state and the seat was won by the national partys E Thirumahan Everaa in 2021 elections Following his death in January 2023 his father Elangovan won the bypoll held in March that yearThe February 5 elections that saw DMK and NTK lock horns was fought in the background of a rivalry between the two parties over Seemans vehement criticism of EV Ramasamy Periyar recently The Dravidian stalwart is a highly respected figure in Tamil Nadu and founded the rationalist organisation Dravidar Kazhagam the ideological fountainhead of DMKIncidentally Erode is the native district of RamasamyDMKs triumph more or less anticipated even as AIADMK and BJP boycotted the hustings follows the ruling partyled coalitions stunning 2024 Lok Sabha polls show where it won all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu besides netting the lone Puducherry segmentAssembly elections are scheduled both in Tamil Nadu and the Puducherry union terriory next year The DMK is keen to retain power in TN after sweeping the elections in 2021 that ended its 10 yearlong stint in the oppositionDMK and its allies had won 38 of the 39 LS seats in the 2019 parliamentary polls as well The ruling party had retained the Vikravandi Assembly seat in a bypoll held last yearIt swept the local body elections held in the state after coming to powerEarlier in the day the counting of polled votes began at 8 am at a government college in Chithode in this districtPostal ballots were taken up for counting firstThe polling on Wednesday witnessed a voter turnout of 6797 per centThe rest of the candidates in the fray put up a poor show with some of them getting votes in double digitsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever