In what was deemed a dead rubber contest due to the principal Opposition party, AIADMK, boycotting the election, the ruling DMK achieved a resounding victory in the Tamil Nadu Assembly bypoll for the Erode East constituency. The DMK won by a staggering margin of over 80,000 votes against the Tamil nationalist party ‘Naam Tamilar Katchi’ (NTK), the only other contender in the race.

DMK candidate VC Chandirakumar garnered an impressive 115,709 votes, while NTK’s MK Seethalakshmi managed to secure 24,151 votes, which amounted to 15.59 percent.

Among the 46 candidates, the contest primarily involved DMK and NTK, as the majority were independents or associated with smaller political parties. The AIADMK, along with its ally the DMDK, the BJP, and others— including PMK and Tamil Maanila Congress— opted out of the election, criticizing the DMK for purportedly utilizing financial and muscle power, as well as misusing government resources to gain an edge in the bypolls.

The bypoll was prompted by the passing of Congress veteran and former Union Minister EVKS Elangovan, who had previously been elected in the 2023 by-election following the untimely demise of his son, Thirumagan Everaa. This time around, Congress ceded the seat to DMK at the request of its dominant alliance partner, recognizing that Erode, located in the western part of Tamil Nadu known as the Kongu belt, has traditionally been a stronghold of the AIADMK, especially as the DMK sought to strengthen its position while the principal opposition party wanes.

In the previous election, Elangovan won by securing 110,156 votes with DMK’s support, but this time the DMK candidate achieved a significant victory with 115,709 votes, representing 74.7 percent of the total. Remarkably, this success came without the involvement of the Chief Minister or other cabinet members on the campaign trail, aside from local Minister S. Muthusamy and sporadic appearances by MP Kanimozhi.

While analysts widely anticipated a DMK victory, the party’s ability to surpass the previous bypoll record has taken many by surprise. Additionally, the fact that NTK doubled its vote count from last time was unexpected. NTK had previously received 10,817 votes (6.35 percent), but this time exhibited a noteworthy increase, signaling a potential shift from a bipolar to a multipolar electoral landscape in Tamil Nadu.