B(u)y Elections
The recently concluded by-election for Thirumangalam assembly constituency is not only one of the interesting political activities in 2009, but also a sort of curtain raiser to upcoming general elections. The by-election for this constituency in Madurai Districts was necessitated by the death of Veera Ilavarasan of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnettra Kazahagam (MDMK) headed by Vaiko. As the general elections to the Parliament is only few months away, it was expected that the by-poll for this assembly cosnstituency will be held along with the Parliamentary elections. However, the Election Commission chose to have it on 9th January 2009.
The announcement by the Election Commission to conduct the by-polls came as a bit of shocker for the ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam. The reason for their discomfiture was obvious - the state was reeling under power outages for several months, one of their allies (Communists) who were with them for the last few years have crossed over to the Jayalalithaa led AIADMK, another one of their allies (Paataali Makkal Katchi) had been shown the door by DMK, the ethnic war in Sri Lanka is at its heights and it was exposing DMK's waning influence at the Centre. To put it simply, DMK was having problems aplenty and a by-election defeat few months before the general elections to the Parliament would spell doom for the party.
On the other hand, Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was sitting pretty. Not only that it was enjoying the sight of its opponent battle the anti-incumbency wave, its alliance got a bit stronger with the inclusion of the Communists. Also, Jayalalithaa managed to convince Vaiko that it will be prudent for AIADMK to contest the by-election rather than MDMK.
Actor-politician Vijayakanth's Desiya Dravida Murpokku Kazhagam (DMDK), that has since its formation in 2005 has been constantly upping its stake by garnering around 8-10% of votes was also in the fray. In 2006 this party's candidate secured 19,970 votes at Thirumangalam, which was 16% of the total votes polled. Despite the fact that the party was not expected to win against its bigger rivals in this constituency, it can't be brushed aside as DMDK was seen grabbing the votes of those who disliked one or both of the major parties.
The internecine rivalry between Muthuvelar Karunanidhi's two sons - Azhagiri and Stalin, compounded the woes for DMK. Azhagiri, being the defacto power centre of the party in the South was peeved at the choice of Latha Adhiyaman as the party's candidate. Although Azhagiri was appointed as DMK's Election Campaign Committee Chairman for this by-election, it required lot of convincing from the party honcho Karunanidhi to get him to hit the ground. Caste dynamics ensured that all the parties (including actor-politician Sarath Kumar's Akila India Samathuva Makkal Katchi) fielded candidates from 'Mukkulathor' community.
The campaigning had every element that one could associate with elections these days. Street violence among the cadres, police high-handedness on opposition, displeasure of the election commission, incentives in cash and kind to the voters, transfer of key officials on charges of bias etc were the order of the day in the run up to the by-election. AIADMK's Jaya TV caught M K Stalin on camera giving cash to the voters during the campaign. Both the ruling and opposition parties spent unlimited amount of cash that it was said that most of the voters in Thirumangalam received around Rs 7000 per vote in addition to gifts like mobile phones, home appliances etc from various parties for casting their holy votes in their favour. It was a fact that people in other parts of the State yearned for by-elections in their constituency. As if these were not enough, people in Thirumangalam were treated to sumptuous feast on several days prior to the D-day. Although it was both DMK and AIADMK who involved in reckless bribing, due to the rich availability of cash resources at its disposal, it is the ruling DMK which is responsible for taking this to unimaginable levels. So confident were they that M K Azhagiri predicted that DMK's candidate will win the elections at a margin of around 40,000 votes.
Reports were rife that registered voters from Thirumangalam, who were living elsewhere were paid transportation charges to commute to Thirumangalam and cast their vote. No wonder that the close to 90% of votes were polled in that constituency. Unverifiable estimates point out that DMK might have spent anywhere around Rs. 100 crores for securing this assembly seat, while AIADMK might have doled out at least half that amount, if not more. Being in the opposition, Jayalalithaa Jayaram's party had very limited means. If the parties were ready to spend cash of such ludicrous proportions to buy the votes that will only secure one more legislative member for their party, think about the cash reserves they have got in their kitty.
When the by-election results were announced, Thirumangalam voters had elected Latha Adhiyaman of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam as their representative. So overwhelming was their choice that the margin of her victory was 39,200 odd votes - just about the same figure predicted by Azhagiri, well before the elections.
It goes without saying that money and muscle power of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam won at Thirumangalam. However, that party is not the only one to blame. Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam used the same tactics to win the by-elections held at Kanchipuram and Sathankulam constituencies during the previous regime (2001-06). Only that the scale of corruption has gone up this time. In the past, by-elections were never given undue importance, especially when the ruling party had a comfortable majority in the Assembly. If one cares to look at the history, DMK which was in power in Tamilnadu between 1989-91 lost Marungapuri, Madurai Central and Permanallur by-elections held during its regime. The change of attitude towards by-elections started in early 1990s. That was the time when Jayalalithaa Jayaram was in power and AIADMK considered it a prestige issue to win the by-elections held for Mylapore, Ranipet assembly constituencies and Palani Lok Sabha constituency. The trend followed in Muthuvelar Karunanidhi regime (1996-2001) when DMK fought tooth and nail to win Arupukottai, Coonoor, Trichy-II by-elections.
If this steep climb down of democracy is a shameful trend, it is not just the political parties, who are to take the blame. No voter from Thirumangalam was naive to think that all the hullaballoo was over the political parties' quest to serve the public. People were more than happy to receive the money and goodies that were doled out in exchange for votes, not realising that the money they receive today will in turn be plundered from them tomorrow. Worst thing was that it was considered an acceptable practice to get cash and kind for votes. Perhaps, people wanted to make hay while the sun was out.
In this context, the voters of Tamar constituency in Jharkhand state need to congratulated. Around the same time when Thirumangalam voted to elect its representative, people in Tamar were also queueing up to elect theirs. The only difference was that among the candidates in Tamar was the State's Chief Minister - Shibu Soren, who needed to win that election to stay in office. People in Tamar, despite having a high profile candidate standing in their constituency, chose not to vote for Shibu Soren causing him to resign from the office of Chief Minister. Perhaps, Shibu Soren need to learn a lesson or two in engineering elections from his more illustrious counterparts down south. Shibu would have done that had he listened to the words of N.Gopalaswami, the Chief Election Commissioner of India. While talking about Thirumangalam poll code violations, he said 'Tamil Nadu is on top from bottom.. earlier we were talking about Bihar and now, we are talking about Tamil Nadu'. What a proud moment for the state to be on top, all alone.
The announcement by the Election Commission to conduct the by-polls came as a bit of shocker for the ruling Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam. The reason for their discomfiture was obvious - the state was reeling under power outages for several months, one of their allies (Communists) who were with them for the last few years have crossed over to the Jayalalithaa led AIADMK, another one of their allies (Paataali Makkal Katchi) had been shown the door by DMK, the ethnic war in Sri Lanka is at its heights and it was exposing DMK's waning influence at the Centre. To put it simply, DMK was having problems aplenty and a by-election defeat few months before the general elections to the Parliament would spell doom for the party.
On the other hand, Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was sitting pretty. Not only that it was enjoying the sight of its opponent battle the anti-incumbency wave, its alliance got a bit stronger with the inclusion of the Communists. Also, Jayalalithaa managed to convince Vaiko that it will be prudent for AIADMK to contest the by-election rather than MDMK.
Actor-politician Vijayakanth's Desiya Dravida Murpokku Kazhagam (DMDK), that has since its formation in 2005 has been constantly upping its stake by garnering around 8-10% of votes was also in the fray. In 2006 this party's candidate secured 19,970 votes at Thirumangalam, which was 16% of the total votes polled. Despite the fact that the party was not expected to win against its bigger rivals in this constituency, it can't be brushed aside as DMDK was seen grabbing the votes of those who disliked one or both of the major parties.
The internecine rivalry between Muthuvelar Karunanidhi's two sons - Azhagiri and Stalin, compounded the woes for DMK. Azhagiri, being the defacto power centre of the party in the South was peeved at the choice of Latha Adhiyaman as the party's candidate. Although Azhagiri was appointed as DMK's Election Campaign Committee Chairman for this by-election, it required lot of convincing from the party honcho Karunanidhi to get him to hit the ground. Caste dynamics ensured that all the parties (including actor-politician Sarath Kumar's Akila India Samathuva Makkal Katchi) fielded candidates from 'Mukkulathor' community.
The campaigning had every element that one could associate with elections these days. Street violence among the cadres, police high-handedness on opposition, displeasure of the election commission, incentives in cash and kind to the voters, transfer of key officials on charges of bias etc were the order of the day in the run up to the by-election. AIADMK's Jaya TV caught M K Stalin on camera giving cash to the voters during the campaign. Both the ruling and opposition parties spent unlimited amount of cash that it was said that most of the voters in Thirumangalam received around Rs 7000 per vote in addition to gifts like mobile phones, home appliances etc from various parties for casting their holy votes in their favour. It was a fact that people in other parts of the State yearned for by-elections in their constituency. As if these were not enough, people in Thirumangalam were treated to sumptuous feast on several days prior to the D-day. Although it was both DMK and AIADMK who involved in reckless bribing, due to the rich availability of cash resources at its disposal, it is the ruling DMK which is responsible for taking this to unimaginable levels. So confident were they that M K Azhagiri predicted that DMK's candidate will win the elections at a margin of around 40,000 votes.
Reports were rife that registered voters from Thirumangalam, who were living elsewhere were paid transportation charges to commute to Thirumangalam and cast their vote. No wonder that the close to 90% of votes were polled in that constituency. Unverifiable estimates point out that DMK might have spent anywhere around Rs. 100 crores for securing this assembly seat, while AIADMK might have doled out at least half that amount, if not more. Being in the opposition, Jayalalithaa Jayaram's party had very limited means. If the parties were ready to spend cash of such ludicrous proportions to buy the votes that will only secure one more legislative member for their party, think about the cash reserves they have got in their kitty.
When the by-election results were announced, Thirumangalam voters had elected Latha Adhiyaman of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam as their representative. So overwhelming was their choice that the margin of her victory was 39,200 odd votes - just about the same figure predicted by Azhagiri, well before the elections.
It goes without saying that money and muscle power of Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam won at Thirumangalam. However, that party is not the only one to blame. Jayalalithaa led All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam used the same tactics to win the by-elections held at Kanchipuram and Sathankulam constituencies during the previous regime (2001-06). Only that the scale of corruption has gone up this time. In the past, by-elections were never given undue importance, especially when the ruling party had a comfortable majority in the Assembly. If one cares to look at the history, DMK which was in power in Tamilnadu between 1989-91 lost Marungapuri, Madurai Central and Permanallur by-elections held during its regime. The change of attitude towards by-elections started in early 1990s. That was the time when Jayalalithaa Jayaram was in power and AIADMK considered it a prestige issue to win the by-elections held for Mylapore, Ranipet assembly constituencies and Palani Lok Sabha constituency. The trend followed in Muthuvelar Karunanidhi regime (1996-2001) when DMK fought tooth and nail to win Arupukottai, Coonoor, Trichy-II by-elections.
If this steep climb down of democracy is a shameful trend, it is not just the political parties, who are to take the blame. No voter from Thirumangalam was naive to think that all the hullaballoo was over the political parties' quest to serve the public. People were more than happy to receive the money and goodies that were doled out in exchange for votes, not realising that the money they receive today will in turn be plundered from them tomorrow. Worst thing was that it was considered an acceptable practice to get cash and kind for votes. Perhaps, people wanted to make hay while the sun was out.
In this context, the voters of Tamar constituency in Jharkhand state need to congratulated. Around the same time when Thirumangalam voted to elect its representative, people in Tamar were also queueing up to elect theirs. The only difference was that among the candidates in Tamar was the State's Chief Minister - Shibu Soren, who needed to win that election to stay in office. People in Tamar, despite having a high profile candidate standing in their constituency, chose not to vote for Shibu Soren causing him to resign from the office of Chief Minister. Perhaps, Shibu Soren need to learn a lesson or two in engineering elections from his more illustrious counterparts down south. Shibu would have done that had he listened to the words of N.Gopalaswami, the Chief Election Commissioner of India. While talking about Thirumangalam poll code violations, he said 'Tamil Nadu is on top from bottom.. earlier we were talking about Bihar and now, we are talking about Tamil Nadu'. What a proud moment for the state to be on top, all alone.
posted by Indian Voter at 8:53:00 PM
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