The district is slowly waking up to election heat, with polls just a fortnight away.
The candidates of major political parties, too, have woken up to realise it is time to go hunting for votes.
Most except those from Congress are beating it out in their constituencies, knocking at the doors of the voters, promising freebies, solutions to everyday issues, and of course, development.
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Unusually this year, the election campaigning is sans the festivities of yesteryears. But there is the noise building with each passing day, as people get treated to doses of electioneering from local politicians, candidates, and, not to mention the media.
Door-to-door campaign
Most of the candidates have taken up a door-to-door campaign. Accompanied by a group of supporters, the candidates visit three to four residential areas in a day.
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“The campaigning has the usual bombastic promises, shouting of not-so-clever slogans, and distribution of handbills full of promises.
"But there is a marked difference in the process this time. We don't see the candidates, along with their supporters, arrive in several cars, making a lot of buzz in the area,” many voters here say.
Key contestants including DMK district secretary N.K.K.P. Raja (Anthiyur), former AIADMK strongman S. Muthusamy (Erode East), who recently switched loyalties to the DMK, and senior AIADMK leaders P.G. Narayanan (Bhavani), K.V. Ramalingam (Erode West) and T. Venkatachalam (Perundurai) have already begun campaigning.
Assignment
AIADMK leader K. Sengottaiyan, contesting from Gobichettipalayam, has assigned most of the electioneering works to his supporters, as he did during the previous elections. “But he is expected to campaign at least for a few days,” his supporters say.
The arch rivals DMK and AIADMK have a direct fight in just one segment in the district. DMK's Mr. Raja takes on AIADMK's S.S. Ramanitharan in Anthiyur segment.
In the previous Assembly elections, the district witnessed a direct clash between the two parties in six segments.
The Congress, which has announced the list of candidates on Wednesday, is yet to begin campaigning. The party is given two segments in the districtErode West and Modakurichi.
Also, to launch campaigning are the DMDK candidate for Erode East segment, V.C. Chandrakumar, and CPI candidate for Bhavanisagar segment, P.L. Sundaram.
The BJP, which has fielded its candidates for all the eight segments in the district, began electioneering a week ago. The candidates of PMK and the Kongu Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam had also launched their campaign.