In the two constituencies where by-elections were held—Maragatham Kumaravel in Madurantakam and Sathyabama in Dharapuram—the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, as the ruling party, has emerged victorious.
On the other hand, in both of these constituencies, the DMK has secured second place.
More than TVK’s victory, it is very important to take a closer look at the DMK’s second-place finish here.
A common view about the DMK is that without alliance parties, it cannot win at all.
But in these two by-elections, the DMK contested on its own.
Congress, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, and the Indian Muslim League, which were DMK’s alliance partners in the elections held in April, are now part of the ruling party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s alliance.
The Marxist Communist Party and the Communist Party of India both contested separately.
As a result, DMK fielded itself alone in this by-election. Looking at the victory, TVK is the one that won in both constituencies.
However, there are 3 things that DMK has quietly scored in both constituencies that must definitely be noted.
First,
In Madurantakam...
The current TVK candidate and the then AIADMK candidate Maragatham Kumaravel had won last May with 69,284 votes (35.09%).
He has now received 74,048 votes. The vote percentage is 39.96 percent.
In May, DMK’s vote percentage was 30.30 percent. Now it is 29.15 percent.
In Dharapuram...
In May, the current TVK candidate and then AIADMK candidate Sathiyabama had secured first place with 81,100 votes (40.78%).
At that time, DMK’s vote percentage in Dharapuram was 32.37 percent, and TVK’s vote percentage was 23.35 percent.
According to the results released today,
TVK candidate Sathyabama has received 37.02 percent of the votes.
DMK has received 31.78 percent of the votes. AIADMK’s vote share is 25.08 percent.
However, Sathyabama, who had secured 40.78% in the general election, contested this election on behalf of TVK and received only 37.02 percent. In both constituencies, DMK has almost retained its vote share.
Second...
In the last election, DMK was in third place in Madurantakam, but in this by-election it has moved up to second place.
During the morning vote count in Dharapuram, AIADMK was in first place and TVK was in second place. However, within the next few hours, DMK, which had been in third place, moved up to second place, which is significant.
It should also be noted that DMK has moved ahead by pushing AIADMK back in a place where AIADMK is strong.
Third...
At present, TVK has won in Madurantakam by a margin of 20,040 votes and in Dharapuram by a margin of 9,471 votes.
Generally, by-elections tend to swing in favor of the ruling party. But this difference now shows the public’s dissatisfaction with the ruling party.
So, it can be taken that DMK still has some chance.
There are still 5 constituencies in Tamil Nadu that are set to face by-elections.
If DMK takes these two constituencies as a lesson and adopts a different approach, there is a chance that it could win at least one constituency in the next by-elections.