Senior Congress leader and MLA-elect of the Erode (East) constituency E.V.K.S. Elangovan on Friday said there was no need to talk about a change in the Congress Legislature Party leadership following his election.
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Responding to a question from the media after he met Chief Minister M.K. Stalin here following his victory, he said the present Leader of the Congress Legislature Party [K. Selvaperunthagai] was discharging his duty well.
On the allegations by AIADMK candidate K.S. Thennarasu that Mr. Elangovan won the election through “money power”, he said that on the evening of the polling day, Mr. Thennarasu expressed satisfaction with the “fair manner” in which the byelection was conducted. “Two days later, he is making these allegations as instructed by Edappadi K. Palaniswami.”
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Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri said the AIADMK and the BJP lacked clarity while contesting in the byelection, whereas the DMK-led alliance had clarity and campaigned by publicising the good work done by the State government.
He alleged that the AIADMK did not even want to use the BJP’s flag at many places during the campaign.
He said Mr. Elangovan’s victory was a certificate from the people, especially the working class and women, for the work done by the State government since 2021.
Earlier, Mr. Elangovan called on Mr. Stalin at the DMK’s headquarters. Senior DMK leaders K.N. Nehru, Thangam Thennarasu and S. Muthusamy, senior Congress leaders Su. Thirunavukkarasar and Mr. Alagiri, and functionaries of both parties were present.
Mr. Elangovan was fielded by the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance. He secured 1,10,156 votes and defeated Mr. Thennarasu, who polled 43,923 votes. The byelection was necessitated by the death of MLA E. Thirumahan Everaa.