In Vikravandi bypoll, NDA pitches itself as ‘real’ Oppn against DMK as AIADMK shies away from uphill battle

With Tamil Nadu’s main Opposition party AIADMK pulling out of the July 10 Vikravandi Assembly bypoll, the odds seem to be in favour of the ruling party DMK, as has been the case with a number of bypolls over the last several years in the state.

Sources said the AIADMK’s decision to opt out of the bypoll was taken by party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, S P Velumani and other senior leaders. The Vikravandi bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting DMK MLA N Pugazhenthi in April.

Top AIADMK leaders claim the decision to stay out of the bypoll race was taken to prevent further demoralisation of the cadre, which have already been reeling from a series of electoral setbacks since 2019 with the latest being the recent Lok Sabha polls, where the party failed to win even a single seat. However, officially the party has sought to link its decision to its concerns regarding the “transparency and fairness” in the electoral process under the ruling DMK.

Once a formidable force, the AIADMK was relegated in the Lok Sabha polls to the third place in 12 constituencies, where the BJP-led NDA finished at the second place behind the victor DMK. The BJP finished runner-up in nine of these seats. These constituencies are Chennai Central, Chennai South, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Nilgiris, Tirunelveli, Tiruvallur, Vellore, Dharmapuri, Ramanathapuram, and Theni, which was the sole seat the AIADMK won in 2019.

Since the demise of AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa in 2016, the party has been struggling to retain its voter base, even as it has been gripped by factionalism and infighting. Party workers have been left disenchanted after successive electoral losses.

With the bypolls historically stacked in favour of the ruling