Erode (East) is one of the 6 assembly segments and the only urban seat of Erode Lok Sabha constituency. The current by-election scheduled for 27 February is necessitated after the sudden demise of the sitting MLA, Thirumagan Everaa (INC).

Late. Thirumagan Everaa is the son of senior congress leader E.V.K.S. Elangovan, who served as a Minister of state under Manmohan Singh govt. and his family is closely related to Dravidian ideologue, late E V Ramasamy (Periyar). Before becoming an MLA in 2021 from Erode(east) assembly segment, he had held the following posts in INC. 2006-2010: General secretary, TNCC youth wing. 2014-2017: Head, TNCC’s Social Media Cell. 2021: General secretary, TNCC.

The INC has fielded senior leader and father of the late MLA EVKS Elangovan, as its candidate. As part of the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) the INC is being supported by the DMK. Along with that actor-turned-politician Kamal Hassan’s political outfit, the Makkal Needhi Maiam(MKM), Thol Thirumavalavan’s party Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and left parties CPI, CPI(M) have promised to support SPA’s candidate EVKS Elangovan unconditionally.

On the other hand, Dr. S. Ramadoss-led Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) decided neither to contest nor to support anyone in this by poll, whereas TTV Dinakaran’s party Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) earlier had fielded Erode(East) District Secretary A.M.Shiva Prasad as their candidate but withdrew later after the Election Commission denied their request to allot them the symbol of Pressure cooker.

After many speculations about freezing of AIADMK’s symbol and BJP’s support to AIADMK, Interim General Secretary Edappadi Palaniswami announced K.S.Thennarasu, 65 as the party’s candidate for the by-poll. He is a former Lawmaker and Erode Urban district MGR Mandran secretary. He was elected as an MLA from the Erode AC in 2001 and from Erode(East) AC in 2011. After the Election commission cleared the ‘Two Leaves’ Symbol of the AIADMK and OPS withdrew his candidate, the BJP extended its support to the AIADMK’s candidate.

So, the contest is going to be a bipolar between the SPA and AIADMK+. The former Chief Minister and temporary general secretary of the AIADMK, EPS saw this as an opportunity to establish himself as the party’s unchallenged leader. EPS took an initiative to persuade its ally the Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC) led by GK Vasan, to surrender the seat to AIADMK. TMC was given the Erode seat in the 2021 Assembly elections. However, the party lost the seat to Congress by a margin of more than 8,000 votes.

This constituency consists of 2.26 Lakh voters, the majority communities in the constituency are Senguntha Mudaliar and Kongu Vellala Gounders, which the both AIADMK and BJP is trying to target. Other communities include Arunthathiyars, Naickers, Naidu and Christians. The BJP is also focusing on the North Indian voters in this constituency, who represent a sizable portion of the electorate. The constituency has over 20% of minority votes, which will favor the DMK-led alliance.

At present the DMK+ alliance has a slight edge in the election but the AIDMK is not leaving any stone unturned in order to win this bypoll. This byelection is the DMK’s first test since it established office in May 2021.