The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam now has a stronger hold over Chennai and its neighbouring districts, as its candidates have won with a higher margin in the byelections to the three Assembly constituencies.
It was a long-drawn process for victory to be declared for the Perambur bypoll, as counting of votes was stalled for nearly five hours over complaints of a mix-up of EVMs with those of the Chennai North Parliamentary constituency. The DMK candidate R.D. Shekar was declared winner against R.S. Raajesh of the AIADMK by a margin of 68,023 votes around 3.30 a.m. on Friday.
Describing the victory with the high margin as the people’s expression of faith in the DMK , Mr. Shekar said: “We have redeemed our traditional bastion after many years. Severe water crisis in the constituency has also led people to vote against the ruling party. I know the grievances and daily struggles of the residents here. The area suffers from sanitation issues and I plan to address such problems on a war-footing basis.” He pointed that the DMK winning 13 Assembly seats in the byelection was itself a major setback for the ruling AIADMK.
P. Vetrivel, former Perambur MLA who contested as an independent candidate, secured 6,281 votes, which was only 3.3% of the total votes polled in the constituency.
A. Krishnaswamy, the DMK candidate who won in the Poonamallee byelection, said: “Issues pertaining to water, transport, underground sewage system and connectivity plagued the people. They knew me well, as I have implemented many Central government schemes here as the Tiruvallur MP.”
For the people
He gained nearly 60,000 votes over the AIADMK candidate G. Vaithiyanathan, who secured 76,809 votes. Mr. Krishnaswamy said though his party could not form the government, he would continue to work for the people.
For L. Idhayavarman, the DMK candidate who won from the Tiruporur Assembly constituency, addressing drinking water crisis is a priority.
“As I am yet to take oath or get funds, I will hold discussions with officials of the department concerned and also with the District Collector to improve drinking water. During Grama Sabha meetings conducted on the directions of DMK president M.K. Stalin, we got a list of complaints from the residents. We have already set right some issues and we will work on the remaining ones,” he said.
When asked if he would be able to perform as opposition, Mr. Idhayavarman said not being part of the ruling party did not matter. “Officials will have to co-operate with us since we are the people’s representatives. If they do not help sort out problems, we will stage protests along with the people,” he added.
(Reporting by K.Lakshmi, Vivek Narayanan and Deepa H. Ramakrishnan)
