The State units of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the CPI have decided not to field candidates in the by-elections in the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies, to be held next month.
A final verdict on whom to support will be made jointly by the leaders of the two parties on Thursday or Friday, the CPI(M) State Committee that met in Madurai on Wednesday decided.
Informed sources in the two parties said they would call upon the voters of the two constituencies to vote against the DMK-Congress combine, which has been pursuing anti-people policies.
But they are yet to decide whether to openly support AIADMK candidates, as the two parties had already announced that their seat-sharing arrangement was only for the Lok Sabha polls.
Left leaders confirmed that AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa had approached them seeking support for her candidates. “But Ms Jayalalithaa has not directly spoken to either CPI(M) State secretary N. Varadarajan or CPI Secretary D. Pandian. Only her representatives opened channels with us.”
The Left leaders ruled out the possibility of supporting candidates of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), led by actor Vijayakant. “The question does not arise as Mr. Vijayakant himself had declared that he was not seeking the support of other political parties,” said a senior CPI(M) leader.
On the first day of submission of nomination papers on Wednesday, two candidates – one each for Vandavasi and Tiruchendur – filed papers. A release issued by Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said the list of leaders for whom political parties desiring to get exemption from the provision of treating their expenditure on account of travel by air or any other means as that of their parties’ candidates or their agents should be sent to the Election Commission or the CEO on or before December 2.
