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DMK front wins two by-poll seats in TN assembly

N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras

The ruling National Democratic Alliance, led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu, won two assembly seats in last week's by-elections by convincing margins. The Election Commission delayed counting of votes to a third seat, Tiruchi II, after the All-India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam charged the DMK with large-scale bogus voting.

But the NDA's tail is up after the DMK victory in Nellikuppam, and the win of its ally, the MGR-Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, in Arantangi.

While DMK nominee Shanmugam won the Nellikuppam seat by a margin of 15,000 votes, MGR-ADMK's Anbarasu won by margin of 25,000 in Arantangi.

But in Arantangi MGR-ADMK supremo S Thirunavukkarasu has not been able to 'transfer' his 65,000-vote lead in the assembly segment after he left it when he won the Pudkukottai Lok Sabha seat. The by-elections in Nellikuppam and Tiruchi II were held after the DMK legislators died.

Thirunavukkarasu had sweet revenge against AIADMK nominee Raja Paramasivam, who had defeated him in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, when the MGR-ADMK contested on its own.

Given that the NDA had won 26 of a total of 40 Lok Sabha seats, including Pondicherry, last year, the AIADMK was expected to do much better, particularly since it had teamed up with the Tamil Maanila Congress.

But the election results have shocked the party, already upset that Jayalalitha has been adjudged guilty in the 'Pleasant Stay Hotel case'. But it was perhaps the 'Dharmapuri incident', in which three college girls died when a bus was burnt by workers protesting the judgement against Jayalalitha, that did the party in.

If the AIADMK finds itself in a hole, the TMC is now in no man's land. The party leadership wrongly calculated that the narrow margins in the Lok Sabha poll results meant the AIADMK would make it to power next year with the TMC's help.

It was particularly hopeful about Nellikuppam, where, along with the votes the TMC polled in the Lok Sabha polls, the AIADMK should have won by 5,000 votes. But it fell by 15,000 votes, implying a 20,000-voter swing against the party. This could help the Congress, the AIADMK's ally in the Lok Sabha elections, to claim credit for the AIADMK's win at the time.

The TMC, with its Dalit Panther ally, could not swing the votes in Nellikuppam this time. This could create some problems in the AIADMK's seat-sharing arrangements with the Congress and the TMC if the alliance continues.

However, there is a cloud hovering over the DMK performance since the Election Commission has ordered a probe into Jayalalitha's charges of electoral irregularities. Election Commission Secretary R J Rao is already in Tiruchi and is expected to report back to his bosses on Saturday, before counting is taken up.

According to information, the Election Commission decision on Tiruchi II was directly communicated to the Tiruchi District Collector, first, over the head of State Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta. Indications are that the Election Commission is unhappy with the alleged malpractices indulged in by both sides, despite it being an urban constituency and a place where electronic voting machine are being pressed into service. The election panel plans to computerise the Assembly elections in the state next year, and does not want any it did not want the effectiveness of its methods in doubt.

Assembly Election 2000

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