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The Election Commission (EC) on Friday announced by-election to RK Nagar, an Assembly constituency in north Chennai, with polling and counting on December 21 and 24 respectively.
The polls were necessitated by the death of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in December 2016.
The by-election is bound to be a closely watched and aggressively fought one. The AIADMK is in the throes of prolonged infighting among its ranks. Also, the main opposition, the DMK, believes the government does not have the strength to remain in power, and is likely to put up an aggressive fight.
Though the two main factions in the AIADMK — led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) — have come together, the party’s deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran has been ousted.
When the by-election to the RK Nagar constituency was previously announced for April 10, EPS and OPS had been at loggerheads. The OPS faction fielded E Madhusudhanan, the AIADMK Presidium Chairman, and the EPS faction, then under the control of VK Sasikala, fielded Dhinakaran.
However, the election was rescinded by the EC following allegations of rampant bribing of voters and other irregularities. Earlier, the EC had frozen the party name and symbol due to the rift within the party.
Yearly elections Subsequently, Dhinakaran was edged out by EPS, which paved the way for both factions to come together in August. The party name and symbol were restored to the unified group on Thursday.
Due to political vicissitudes, this constituency has faced three elections in as many years.
In June 2015, a by-election was necessitated after the incumbent resigned to make way for Jayalalithaa to re-enter the Assembly after being acquitted in a disproportionate asses case.
In the Assembly elections of 2016, the constituency returned Jayalalithaa to power. With her death, RK Nagar will go to polls again next month.
Meanwhile, the Congress has announced it will support its ally, the DMK. The details of the candidates in the fray will be known next week.
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