DMK's Kathir Anand wins Vellore Lok Sabha seat in close race

CHENNAI: The DMK alliance, which won all but one seat in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in an impressive sweep in the Lok Sabha elections, extended its gains by securing the Vellore constituency in a close race marked by an early setback and a gallop in the later rounds.

DMK candidate Kathir Anand, son of DMK Treasurer Durai Murugan, got 4.85 lakh votes in total and emerged ahead of his nearest AIADMK alliance rival AC Shanmugam by a margin of 8141 votes.

Anand was embroiled in a cash-for-votes controversy ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in April this year. The Election Commission postponed the polls for the seat after its officials, enabled by Income Tax department’s investigation wing, discovered a cash hoard of over Rs 11 crore at a location linked to Anand. The polls were later held on August 5.

According to one senior DMK functionary who had worked for the bypolls, the tight race was expected given the lower-than-anticipated grassroots push from Durai Murugan towards winning the seat. The DMK banked on Muslims—a sizeable population in the constituency - especially in regions such as Vaniyambadi and Ambur. Shanmugham, who is the head of the AIADMK ally New Justice Party, polled more votes in most other areas.

An AIADMK spokesperson said the slender margin of loss was a victory in itself, considering the landslide wins by the DMK in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls. Barring a few seats such as Dharmapuri and Chidambaram, the DMK alliance had swept the Parliamentary polls with margins averaging about 2.5 lakh votes.

Many state ministers had campaigned extensively in Vellore, which may have added heft to the AIADMK's campaign.

Analysts said AIADMK front's improved showing held a message for the cadre. "Both candidates are heavyweights who continued their field work even after poll cancellation in April. For AIADMK, the low margin loss has a positive, encouraging message," said N Sathiya Moorthy, political observer and Senior Fellow, Observer Research Foundation.

Representative leaders of the Muslim community in Vellore, Ambur and Vaniyambadi said the AIADMK's stance favouring a ban on instant Triple Talaq had angered sections in the community. "The support of the Bill by the AIADMK Lok Sabha member had come as a shock," said a community leader, and an entrepreneur, in Vellore." The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha ten days ahead of the poll in Vellore.

The AIADMK corrected its position in the Rajya Sabha on the instant Triple Talaq Bill, staging a walk out, leading to murmurs of confusing stances by the party on the issue.

In the Lok Sabha polls held in April this year, DMK had won 38 of the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, losing Theni to AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam’s son OP Ravindranath Kumar. Kumar has been waging a lone battle in the Lower House, outnumbered by a strident DMK parliamentary group including several seasoned lawmakers.