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Tamil Nadu assembly bypoll: It’s NDA vs DMK in Vikravandi as AIADMK announces boycott; Chidambaram says…
Tamil Nadu assembly bypoll: It’s NDA vs DMK in Vikravandi as AIADMK announces boycott; Chidambaram says…
P Chidambaram said the AIADMK’s move to boycott the election was "clear evidence that it has received instructions from the ‘top’ to facilitate the electoral chances of the NDA candidate (PMK)."

AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswami announced on Saturday that his party will boycott the byelection to Vikravandi
The AIADMK has decided to boycott the bypoll to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency, leaving the field for a direct contest between NDA and the ruling DMK. S Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali Makkal Katchi, a constituent of the BJP-led NDA in Tamil Nadu, has confirmed that his party’s vice-president C Anbumani, will contest the Vikravandi bypoll.

AIADMK’s Edappadi K Palaniswami announced on Saturday that his party will boycott the byelection to Vikravandi, which was won by the DMK in 2021 by nearly 10,000 votes. He alleged that the state ministers and DMK workers, apart from misusing power, will also unleash violence and lawlessness and not allow people to vote independently. Hence, the bypoll will not be fair and free.

The AIADMK general secretary cited several allegations made in the past against the ruling party including the ‘Thirumangalam formula’ and ‘Erode East formula,’ of confining people in ‘sheds’ like cattle to prevent the opposition party from reaching out to them and to somehow win their votes through allurements. The DMK had, however, dismissed all such allegations as false.

The ‘Thirumngalam formula’ is a reference to the opposition’s allegation of inducement/cash for votes in the Thirumangalam Assembly segment in a bypoll held in 2009 during the DMK regime. A bypoll to Erode East Assembly constituency was held in 2023 and DMK’s ally Congress party’s senior leader EVKS Elangovan won.

Reacting to this development, Tamil Nadu BJP Vice President Narayanan Thirupathy said that it was very clear that the saffron party had pushed the AIADMK to third position. "They all know that we are very strong and they are afraid that they will be exposed in these mid-term polls. As an opposition party, they should have contested this election."

However, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said the AIADMK’s move to boycott the election was "clear evidence that it has received instructions from the ‘top’ to facilitate the electoral chances of the NDA candidate (PMK)." "Both BJP and AIADMK are fighting the battle through a proxy (PMK). The I.N.D.I.A. bloc must ensure the resounding victory of the DMK candidate," he said.

After the DMK-led INDIA bloc swept the Lok Sabha polls in the southern state, some AIADMK and BJP leaders believed that if they had contested together then the ruling party alliance would not have won all seats.

BJP’s former state president Tamilsai Soundararajan, who contested from South Chennai but lost the elections, stated that the saffron party could have performed better had it been in alliance with AIADMK. She also backed an AIADMK leader who alleged that BJP’s state chief K Annamalai was the reason behind the BJP-AIADMK break-up.

"What he (Velumani) said is realistic. DMK would not have won all the seats had the BJP been in alliance with the AIADMK. This is poll arithmetic. Alliance is but a political strategy… This [Velumani’s view] is realistic and should be accepted," she said.

Vikravandi Assembly constituency will go to polls on July 10.