No reprieve for parties in TN as leaders draw strategy for 4 more bypolls

A day after Tamil Nadu went to polls for 38 of its Lok Sabha seats and the by-elections to 18 constituencies, there seems to be no rest for the political parties in the state as preparations have begun for the remaining four by-election seats, scheduled on May 19. Aravakurichi, Tiruparankundram, Ottapidaram and Sulur are yet to go to polls.

The DMK, which had announced its candidate list last week, announced election in-charge for the four by-election seats on April 19. The AIADMK said that it was getting ready for next round of elections in the state. Talking to reporters on April 19, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the party will announce the candidate list in the next few days.

Former minister Senthil Balaji, who recently moved from the ruling AIADMK to join the DMK, is the candidate for Aravakurichi constituency, N Pongalur Palanisami, former minister is the candidate for Sulur constituency, P Saravanan will contest in Tiruparankundram, and MC Shanmugaiah is the candidate for the Ottapidaram (reserved) constituency.

The by-election to these four Assembly seats were not announced earlier as petitions challenging the elections in these constituencies were still pending in court. On April 4, the remaining by-elections were announced, and results will be announced on May 23 along with the Lok Sabha and other by-election constituencies.

Of the 234 Assembly seats, 18 constituencies fell vacant after the AIADMK MLAs belonging to these constituencies switched their loyalties to rival TTV Dhinakaran, leading to their disqualification by speaker P Dhanapal. Later, the Assembly seats of Tiruvarur and Thiruparankundram fell vacant after the death of MLAs Karunanidhi and AK Bose in August last year. The Hosur constituency fell vacant in January this year when its MLA Balakrishna Reddy, who was also the state sports minister, was disqualified after being sentenced for three years by a special court under the Tamil Nadu Public Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act in a 1998 riot case.