MADURAI
Campaign for the byelection for Tirupparankundram Assembly constituency came to an end on Friday evening with candidates of all political parties and a majority of independents toiling hard in the scorching heat in their final bid to reach out to voters.
Ministers Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, Sellur K. Raju, and R. B. Udhayakumar took part in a public meeting in support of AIADMK candidate S. Muniyandi.
Addressing the gathering, Mr. Sreenivasan said that the Opposition parties were scared of defeat and that was why DMK president M.K. Stalin and Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran spent more days in the constituency for the campaign.
Mr. Raju said that while AIADMK was campaigning by highlighting the achievements of its government, DMK had nothing to showcase in its earlier rule. “In Tirupparankundram constituency alone, we have carried out developmental work for ₹ 38 crore,” he claimed.
Mr. Udhayakumar said that the speculation of DMK and AMMK that the AIADMK government would fall, once the results of byelections to 22 Assembly constituencies were announced, would not come true.
Udhayanidhi Stalin, actor and son of Mr. Stalin, campaigned for DMK candidate P. Saravanan at many places throughout the day. Stating that the people had already voted in the parliamentary election to oust the BJP government, he appealed to the public to vote out the AIADMK government in Tamil Nadu by supporting DMK.
AMMK organised a public meeting in support of its candidate I. Mahendran in Tirupparankundram. Makkal Needhi Maiam candidate P. Sakthivel and Naam Tamilar Katchi’s R. Revathi also campaigned in several places.
With the three major parties roping in a large number of its cadre and functionaries from outside Madurai district, sources in the District Election Office said that they had been asked to leave by Friday evening as per norms of Election Commission.
