How the legend of Veerapan may have spoiled the transfer of votes for the BJP helping the NTK in Krishnagiri

If until now, Naam Tamilar Katchi fielding candidates - assuming claims to political morality - was seen as the party playing spoilsport in the predominantly bipolar electoral contest in the State, the party’s performance in Krishnagiri Lok Sabha constituency did much more than merely “spoiling the sport”.

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The party’s candidate meddled with the coalition arithmetic of the NDA and betrayed the transfer of votes that ought to have gone to the BJP..

NTK’s candidate Vidya Rani Veerapan, daughter of the slain sandalwood smuggler Veerapan had polled 1,06,260 votes cornering a vote share of 9.15%.

The polled percentage was a giant leap - from 2% in the last elections - for a party with almost nil political action on the street on any local issue here. In 2019, the NTK had polled 28,000 votes.

The vote percentage, however, spoke more of the symbolism represented by the candidate and less to do with the party that fielded her.

Ms. Vidya Rani, a lawyer by profession, had appealed for votes in the name of her father, the slain forest brigand. The ‘legend of Veerapan’ is also appropriated by the Vanniyar politics. In Krishnagiri, with a majority Vanniyar population, the votes of the PMK that ought to have been transferred to its ally the BJP appears to have instead gone to the NTK.

The NTK had polled around 22,664 votes in Krishnagiri Assembly segment, followed by second highest in Vepanahalli and Bargur in that order.

As for the BJP, it had polled 18.33% of vote share, with the highest number of votes from its strongholds of Hosur and Thally Assembly segments, where it had garnered 60,715 votes and 49,594 votes respectively.