Chennai: The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) announced former AIADMK MLA KS Thennarasu as the candidate for Erode East bye-election on Wednesday.
According to ANI, “AIADMK announces their candidate for Erode East bye-election. KS Thennarasu, AIADMK Erode District MGR Mandram Secretary to contest from AIADMK.”
Former AIADMK Minister SP Velumani made the announcement after the inauguration of the election working office in Erode (East) constituency. The Ex-Minister also urged the people to vote for Thennarasu and make him win by at least a difference of 50,000 votes in the by-election. The announcement on Wednesday came at a time when it was expected that Erode Urban district secretary KP Ramalingam would be fielded for the bypoll in the constituency.
Previously, Thennarasu contested in Erode (East) constituency and won the polls in 2016 with 64,879 votes.
Meanwhile, on the other hand, another faction of AIADMK led by O Panneerselvam also said that they would contest the poll as AIADMK. As a result, confusion still persists over the faction that would contest the ‘two leaves' symbol.
However, the major ally of AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, BJP did not clarify their stand on the support till now. The BJP on Tuesday said that they would clarify their stand only in the next 2 days.
The ruling DMK party has fielded Congress leader EVKS Elangovan and the party has already started campaigning for the candidate.
The Erode (East) seat fell vacant after the sitting MLA Thirumahan Everaa died after suffering a cardiac arrest in January 2023. It can also be noted that Thirumahan Everaa is the son of EVKS Elangovan and the grandson of Periyar.
The Erode (East) Assembly bypoll is scheduled to be held on February 27 and the last date of nomination is on February 7.