The DMK-backed Secular Progressive Alliance candidate, E.V.K.S. Elangovan of the Congress, who registered an emphatic win in the byelection to the Erode (East) Assembly seat for which results were declared on Thursday, had secured 66.82% of the total votes polled.
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During the bypoll held on February 27, of the total 2,27,547 electors, 1,70,190 (74.79%) had exercised their franchise. The counting of votes took place at the Government College of Engineering in Chithode. At the end of counting, Mr. Elangovan of the Congress secured 1,10,156 votes which is 64.58% of the total votes polled.
In the Assembly election held in the constituency in 2021, Congress candidate, the late E. Thirumahan Everaa (Mr. Elangovan’s son) had secured 67,300 votes which are 44.27% of the total votes. Thus, the victory margin was increased from 8,904 votes in 2021 to 66,233 now while the vote share had also increased by 20.31%.
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AIADMK candidate K.S. Thennarasu secured 43,923 votes which was 25.75% of the total polled votes. In 2021, Tamil Manila Congress candidate M. Yuvaraja, backed by the AIADMK, secured 58,396 votes, which is 38.14%. Thus, the vote share had dropped by 12.39%.
Likewise, the votes polled for Naam Tamilar Katchi also dropped from 11,629 in 2021 to 10,827 while the votes polled for the DMDK increased slightly from 1,204 votes to 1,432 votes.
Of the 77 candidates who contested, all except for Mr. Thennarasu, forfeited their deposits. Likewise, two candidates secured three votes each while a total of 34 candidates’ secured less than 20 votes each. Only 14 candidates obtained more than 100 votes each while 798 votes were polled for NOTA.