01-13-2009, 06:36 AM
<b>
DMK pulls off âexpensiveâ win
- Party said to have shelled out Rs 50 crore to woo voters </b>
Chennai, Jan. 12: The DMK has scored a huge win in the Thirumangalam Assembly bypoll in what is being seen âas the most abnormal and most expensiveâ by-election in Tamil Naduâs history.
The ruling party is said to have spent over Rs 50 crore to woo voters. The south Tamil Nadu seat also saw the highest turnout in the stateâs history â nearly 90 per cent.
The ADMK, after trying to match the DMKâs money power, gave up midway as voters were given cash doles and treated to lavish feasts, with the spirits flowing. DMK legislators also met demands for repairing the village temple and building community toilets with cash donations.
The voters appeared to have kept their promise by turning up in large numbers and voting overwhelmingly for the DMK. Party candidate Latha Athiyaman defeated the ADMK rival by 39,266 votes. Actor Vijayakanthâs DMDK came a distant third.
Ally MDMK, which won the seat in 2006, had made way for the ADMK on Jayalalithaaâs request that she was better positioned to take on the DMKâs might. The two Left parties, too, threw their weight behind Jayalalithaaâs candidate, hoping a win could set the trend for the Lok Sabha elections.
Bypolls have, however, never served as accurate pointers to subsequent elections. In 1995 and 2005, Jayalalithaa had won bypolls during her tenure but lost power in the Assembly elections a year later.
âPeople play safe during bypolls by voting for the ruling party so that their area is rewarded with development projects. Also, the ruling party will not be able to concentrate all its resources during Lok Sabha elections when it will be contesting 39 seats and not just one Assembly seat,â said Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy.
But the DMK, especially chief minister M. Karunanidhiâs son M.K. Azhagiri in whose fief Thirumangalam falls, took it as a personal fight to deny the ADMK even a look-in. He mobilised the wherewithal to ensure that the DMK won decisively.
To start with, the DMK was on a weak wicket as the seat was an ADMK stronghold. Besides, three of its allies had left a few months earlier and rising prices and power cuts had created a strong anti-establishment mood.
But the DMK turned around the minuses with a single-point agenda: giving the voters whatever they wanted. Even Election Commission observers and a spate of complaints by the ADMK failed to prevent the DMK from raining its largesse on the rural voters.
The DMK not only won over non-ADMK and non-DMDK voters but also kept close tabs to ensure they cast their ballots. âThe voters were overwhelmed with the attention they got,â joked an MDMK legislator.
So much so that the ADMK polled nearly 5,000 votes less than what ally MDMK got in 2006.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090113/jsp/...ry_10382666.jsp
DMK pulls off âexpensiveâ win
- Party said to have shelled out Rs 50 crore to woo voters </b>
Chennai, Jan. 12: The DMK has scored a huge win in the Thirumangalam Assembly bypoll in what is being seen âas the most abnormal and most expensiveâ by-election in Tamil Naduâs history.
The ruling party is said to have spent over Rs 50 crore to woo voters. The south Tamil Nadu seat also saw the highest turnout in the stateâs history â nearly 90 per cent.
The ADMK, after trying to match the DMKâs money power, gave up midway as voters were given cash doles and treated to lavish feasts, with the spirits flowing. DMK legislators also met demands for repairing the village temple and building community toilets with cash donations.
The voters appeared to have kept their promise by turning up in large numbers and voting overwhelmingly for the DMK. Party candidate Latha Athiyaman defeated the ADMK rival by 39,266 votes. Actor Vijayakanthâs DMDK came a distant third.
Ally MDMK, which won the seat in 2006, had made way for the ADMK on Jayalalithaaâs request that she was better positioned to take on the DMKâs might. The two Left parties, too, threw their weight behind Jayalalithaaâs candidate, hoping a win could set the trend for the Lok Sabha elections.
Bypolls have, however, never served as accurate pointers to subsequent elections. In 1995 and 2005, Jayalalithaa had won bypolls during her tenure but lost power in the Assembly elections a year later.
âPeople play safe during bypolls by voting for the ruling party so that their area is rewarded with development projects. Also, the ruling party will not be able to concentrate all its resources during Lok Sabha elections when it will be contesting 39 seats and not just one Assembly seat,â said Thuglak editor Cho Ramaswamy.
But the DMK, especially chief minister M. Karunanidhiâs son M.K. Azhagiri in whose fief Thirumangalam falls, took it as a personal fight to deny the ADMK even a look-in. He mobilised the wherewithal to ensure that the DMK won decisively.
To start with, the DMK was on a weak wicket as the seat was an ADMK stronghold. Besides, three of its allies had left a few months earlier and rising prices and power cuts had created a strong anti-establishment mood.
But the DMK turned around the minuses with a single-point agenda: giving the voters whatever they wanted. Even Election Commission observers and a spate of complaints by the ADMK failed to prevent the DMK from raining its largesse on the rural voters.
The DMK not only won over non-ADMK and non-DMDK voters but also kept close tabs to ensure they cast their ballots. âThe voters were overwhelmed with the attention they got,â joked an MDMK legislator.
So much so that the ADMK polled nearly 5,000 votes less than what ally MDMK got in 2006.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090113/jsp/...ry_10382666.jsp