VILLUPURAM:
Caste
and
cash
played a key role in the
Vikravandi
bypoll, acccording to a political
analyst
in Villupuram district.
According to Ezhil Ilangovan, an environmental activist and Villupuram-based political analyst, despite alleged voter bribing turning out to be the decisive factor for victory, vanniyar votes remained a gamechanger.
“We expected vanniyar votes to be equally shared among the two key parties following confusion after the demise of community leader ‘Kaduvetti’ Guru. However, the PMK’s alliance with AIADMK seems to have removed all doubts of the vanniyar voters, who hope that all of their demands would be fulfilled if they elect the ruling party candidate.”
On the other hand, high-pitched campaign by the DMK alliance focusing on the welfare of the vanniyar community has displeased dalit voters of Vikravandi.
An elderly resident of Viratikuppam in the constituency, who did not want to be identified, said, “Though we don’t belong to any political party, we used to support dalit welfare parties like VCK. However, during the campaign by both major parties, the leaders pitched for the welfare of the dominant vanniyar community alone and except from Thirumavalavan, there was no announcement from anyone about the upliftment of impoverished dalits. Our villagers, in the last minute, decided to support the party which paid us the most for our votes.”
With AIADMK’s M R Muthamizhselvan winning the byelection by a margin of around 44,000 votes, DMK candidate N Pugalenthi said, “Cash won the polls and democracy lost its deposit in Vikravandi.” He thanked his party president M K Stalin who gave him the opportunity to contest and expressed his gratitude to all DMK and alliance party leaders and workers for supporting him.
Meanwhile, C Ve Shanmugham, minister for law, prison and courts, said, “The public taught a lesson to opposition leader M K Stalin who tried to woo the voters with false electoral promises. Vikravandi and Nanguneri bypoll results are a prelude to the 2021 assembly election. The public has taken an unambiguous decision on who should rule Tamil Nadu permanently. People are clear that the future government should be under the leadership of AIADMK convener O Paneerselvam and party coordinator Edapaddi K Palaniswami.”