Chennai: Winning the Madurantakam and Dharapuram bypolls with big margins five months after forming the govt on its electoral debut, TVK has proved its victory parade has just begun.The three-year-old party mounted a determined effort to wrest the seats from AIADMK and increase its assembly tally from 107 to 109. And this, overcoming an opposition campaign that harped on betrayal (by the MLAs who resigned from AIADMK) and horse-trading (by TVK who took them in).TVK’s bypoll campaign was built on the same two portrayals as in April this year: DMK as an evil force, and TVK as the redeemer of hope. Vijay added – and with good reason – a third plank this time: DMK and AIADMK would strike a deal to defeat him, the saviour.Vijay’s extensive campaign in the two constituencies this time added to the party’s leap to victory from third place in Dharapuram and second place in Madurantakam. “It shows the people’s faith in Vijay has increased,” said revenue minister K A Sengottaiyan.DMK’s second-place finishes in both the constituencies, ahead of AIADMK, show it remains TVK’s principal challenger. Despite losing most of its allies to TVK, DMK mounted a resilient campaign and retained much of its core support. In Madurantakam, it moved from third place to second despite criticism that its candidate I Paranthamen was an outsider.A closer scrutiny, however, shows DMK this time polled around 30,000 fewer votes than it did in the two constituencies together last time. DMK leaders attribute this to the fall in polling percentage. “The results show that our vote base is intact. SIR could have also had an impact on our votes,” said DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan.The Dharapuram result is particularly damaging for Palaniswami. Despite resentment among AIADMK sympathisers over TVK candidate P Sathyabama’s defection, and the constituency having a significant gounder population, the party fared poorly. For AIADMK, it is a big setback to be pushed from the winner’s podium five months ago to third place. AIADMK’s vote share in Dharapuram plunging from 40% to 25% indicates a possible split in gounder votes that benefited TVK.Reeling under factionalism, the party now has a bigger challenge to keep its remaining flock together and rebuild the organisation. And the AIADMK general secretary may find voices against his leadership rising.AIADMK’s failure to bring PMK on board appears to have proved costly in Madurantakam, which has a sizeable vanniyar electorate. PMK had reportedly proposed a dalit from the northern belt as the common candidate in Madurantakam, but Palaniswami announced the AIADMK nominee without discussion. And Vijay called up Anbumani Ramadoss to convey birthday wishes soon after the results.
