TN: DMK wins Erode East, maintains winning streak ahead of 2026 state polls

The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu continued its winning streak on Saturday (February 8), securing a decisive victory in the Erode East bypoll against actor-politician Seeman's NTK. The landslide win serves as a significant boost for the MK Stalin-led party ahead of next year’s Assembly elections.

DMK's V C Chandhirakumar trounced Naam Tamilar Katchi's (NTK) M K Seethalakshmi by a margin of 91,558 votes. In the process, NTK, a Tamil nationalist organisation, forfeited deposit.

With 44 other candidates — most of them independents — in the fray, NOTA (None of the Above) grabbed the third place with 6,109 votes.

Chandhirakumar polled 1,15,709 votes while Seethalakshmi came a distant second with 24,151 votes.

Also Read: TN: DMK wins Erode East, maintains winning streak ahead of 2026 state polls

Jubilation

The winning candidate later said the DMK has secured "75 per cent of the votes." "I dedicate this victory to the Chief Minister (Stalin). People have reposed faith in the DMK, the CM and deputy CM (Udhayanidhi Stalin)," he told reporters.

The victory sparked jubilation among DMK supporters in Erode and elsewhere. At the party headquarters Anna Arivalayam in Chennai, DMK workers celebrated the win by bursting crackers.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA from the segment, EVKS Elangovan last year.

The Congress is a part of the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) in the state and the seat was won by the national party's E Thirumahan Everaa in 2021 elections. Following his death in January, 2023, his father Elangovan won the bypoll held in March that year.

Also Read: Bypolls: BJP clinches Milkipur seat in UP; DMK bags Erode East

Criticism of Periyar

The February 5 elections that saw DMK and NTK lock horns was fought in the background of a rivalry between the two parties over Seeman's vehement criticism of EV Ramasamy 'Periyar' recently. The Dravidian stalwart is a highly respected figure in Tamil Nadu and founded the rationalist organisation Dravidar Kazhagam, the ideological fountainhead of DMK.

Incidentally, Erode is the native district of Ramasamy.

DMK's triumph, more or less anticipated even as AIADMK and BJP boycotted the hustings, follows the ruling party-led coalition's stunning 2024 Lok Sabha polls show, where it won all the 39 seats in Tamil Nadu, besides netting the lone Puducherry segment.

Assembly elections are scheduled both in Tamil Nadu and the Puducherry union terriory next year. The DMK is keen to retain power in TN, after sweeping the elections in 2021 that ended its 10 year-long stint in the opposition. DMK and its allies had won 38 of the 39 LS seats in the 2019 parliamentary polls as well. The ruling party had retained the Vikravandi Assembly seat in a bypoll held last year.

Also Read: Budget Session | DMK MPs to demand code of conduct for governors, increase in funds

Poor show by other candidates

It swept the local body elections held in the state after coming to power.

Earlier in the day, the counting of polled votes began at 8 am at a government college in Chithode.

Postal ballots were taken up for counting first.

The polling on Wednesday witnessed a voter turnout of 67.97 per cent.

The rest of the candidates in the fray put up a poor show, with some of them getting votes in double digits.