Chennai: The DMDK has not given up its hopes in the democratic exercise. The party faced a total rout in the Assembly polls in May, which it contested in an understanding with alliance partners in the PWA. While the major parties comprising the PWA – MDMK and VCK - have decided to boycott the November 19 byelections, Captain’s party has chosen to contest the election and has nominated its candidates.
The DMDK’s decision to remain the poll fray should go towards making the contest all the more interesting. The elections to the three seats — Thanjkavur, Aravakurichi and Tirupparankundram — would witness five- cornered contests as the BJP and PMK are also in the fray along with the Dravidian majors AIADMK and archrival DMK front in which Congress is an ally. This is a clear sign that the Captain is willing to keep his faith in the battle for the ballot.
It remains to be seen if ‘Captain’ will manage to steer his party to emerge as a formidable force or at least create ripples in the bypolls, which are usually known to favour the ruling party. The DMK and BJP besides the ruling AIADMK have already announced their candidates. Former Union shipping minister and TMC founder G. K. Vasan has however decided to stay away from the November 19 election.
Neither Vijayakanth's popularity nor the strength of an alliance in Vaiko's PWA (which also included CPI, CPI (M) the VCK) created any impact in the May 16 poll. The front failed to secure a single seat with all the Assembly seats declared going to AIADMK or the DMK alliance including the Congress.
Announcing his battle preparedness, Vijayakanth on Sunday named Aravai M. Muthu as the DMDK's candidate for Aravakurichi Assembly constituency. He also announced that V. Abdullah Sait would contest from Thanjavur while T. Thanapandian would contest from Tirupparankundram.
Elections to Thanjavur and Aravakurichi constituencies were cancelled in May following complaints of large-scale bribing of voters. Tirupparankundram is facing a bypoll necessitated by the death of ruling AIADMK legislator Seenivel who was admitted to hospital before the poll date and was said to be not even aware that he had won his seat when he passed away.
