 | This articleis missing information about 2003-05 bye polls. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(May 2025) |
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 vacant seats in theLegislature of Tamil Nadu | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By-elections toAndipatti constituency was held inTamil Nadu,India, on 21 February 2002. Three state assembly constituencies,Saidapet,Vaniyambadi, andAcharapakkam were held on 31 May 2002. In 2003, by-election inSathankulam was held on 26 February 2003. During this by-election, the DMK and all the other major parties supported the Congress candidate, while only BJP supported the AIADMK candidate. This election came after the support of the Anti-conversion bill by AIADMK general secretary, Jayalalithaa and increasing tension between DMK and BJP due to the passage of the bill. The AIADMK win in Sathankulam was significant, since it completes the AIADMK sweep in by-elections after its victory in 2001. Also the anti-conversion bill was not an important factor in the congress-bastion Sathankulam, whose electorate consists of a large percentage of minorities.[1]
Despite attempts by the opposition to delay the Andipatti by-election, due to alleged voter list irregularities, theElection Commission of India decided to have the vacant seat in Andipatti, early in February and push off the other three vacant seats, in May.[2] Andipatti seat was made vacant by the resignation ofThanga Tamil Selvan to facilitate the election ofJ. Jayalalithaa, who had her corruption charges cleared in late December in 2001. Despite the fact that she could not participate in the 2001 General Elections due to her 4 nominations being disqualified, she was sworn-into office. After being released from the case, she contested this election and became Chief minister in March 2002.[3]
As AIADMK had won 132 seats in2001 State assembly election, even with the breakup of its previous alliance withTamil Maanila Congress (TMC),Indian National Congress (INC),Communist Party of India (CPI),Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) andPattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), it would have still continued to stay in power, regardless of the results in the by-election. But since Jayalalithaa was legally not allowed to run for an MLA seat in 2001, she made the decision to run for an MLA seat before swearing in as Chief Minister.[4]
The Andipatti victory, in late February, paved way for Jayalalithaa to swear in as Chief Minister. The party also swept the by-election in late May. The PMK lost an anticipated victory in Acharappakam, a constituency with a high percentage ofVanniyars electorates. It was observed that theDalit vote base coupled with the popularity of Jayalalithaa led to the defeat, allowing AIADMK to wrest this seat from the PMK.
Due to reported frustrations withJ. Jayalalithaa, almost all of her allies from 2001 election, left the AIADMK alliance and started their own third front. The Third Front consisted of CPM, CPI,Indian National League (INL), TMC and INC. AIADMK, which was supported by 196 MLAs in 2001, shrunk to 132 seats, with 64 MLAs leaving the alliance. Only 117 seats are required for a party to form a Government. ThePMK, who backed AIADMK in 2001, backed theDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in this by-election, which was part of theNational Democratic Alliance (NDA).
After Sathankulam by-election in 2003:
| AIADMK+ | SEATS | DMK+ | SEATS | Third Front | SEATS | OTHERS | SEATS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | 136 (+4) | DMK | 30 (-1) | CPM | 6 | MDMK | 0 |
| PMK | 19 (-1) | CPI | 5 | FBL | 1 | ||
| BJP | 4 | TMC | 22 | ||||
| MADMK | 2 | INC | 7 | ||||
| INL | 0 (-1) | ||||||
| TOTAL (2003) | 136 | TOTAL (2003) | 55 | TOTAL (2003) | 42 | TOTAL (2003) | 1 |
| TOTAL (2001) | 196 | TOTAL (2001) | 37 | TOTAL (2001) | n/a | TOTAL (2001) | 1 |
Source: Election Commission of India[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | J. Jayalalithaa | 78,437 | 58.22% | +4.44% | |
| DMK | Vaigai Sekar | 37,236 | 27.64% | −4.03% | |
| MDMK | Jayachandran | 8,421 | 6.25% | −5.94% | |
| Majority | 41,201 | n/a | n/a | ||
| Turnout | 134,734 | n/a | n/a | ||
| AIADMKhold | Swing | ||||
The election here became very controversial, when opposition leaders, DMK, the left and others, complained about ADMK party cadres allegedly working with the police, that resulted in taking over of polling booths. There were also complaints of voter registration fraud by the opposition. The opposition leaders appealed for an entirely new election in this constituent, which was rejected, by the ECI.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | Radha Ravi | 65,868 | 50.9% | ||
| DMK | Ma. Subramanian | 53,943 | 41.7% | ||
| CPI(M) | T. Nandagopal | 4,154 | 3.2% | ||
| MDMK | P. Subramani | 2,235 | 1.7% | ||
| Majority | 11,925 | ||||
| Turnout | 129,433 | 52.2% | |||
| AIADMKgain fromDMK | Swing | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | R. Vadivelu | 63,599 | 49.2% | ||
| DMK | E.M. Anifa | 43,878 | 34.0% | ||
| INL | Nawaz | 11,324 | 8.8% | ||
| MDMK | R. Lakshmi Kanthan | 3,191 | 2.5% | ||
| PNK | S. Shakila | 1,135 | 0.9% | ||
| LJSP | Abdullah Basha | 1,045 | 0.8% | ||
| Majority | 19,721 | ||||
| Turnout | 129,217 | 63.7% | |||
| AIADMKgain fromINL | Swing | ||||
Source:The Hindu[8]
The MDMK, did not contest this seat, instead supported the PMK candidate, which also got the support of DMK and BJP.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | A. Boovaragamoorthy | 55,507 | 53.4% | ||
| PMK | D. Parventhan | 37,590 | 36.2% | ||
| CPI | P.S. Ellappan | 4,047 | 3.9% | ||
| APMK | S.J. Raja | 1,928 | 1.9% | ||
| Majority | 17,917 | 3.89% | n/a | ||
| Turnout | 103,911 | 62.1% | n/a | ||
| AIADMKgain fromPMK | Swing | ||||
Source: ECI[9]
Election was necessitated due to death of S.S. Mani Nadar.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIADMK | L. Neelamegavarnam | 56,945 | 57.0% | ||
| INC | A. Mahendran | 39,453 | 39.0% | ||
| Majority | 17,492 | 18.0% | n/a | ||
| Turnout | 100,446 | 64.8% | n/a | ||
| AIADMKgain fromTMC(M) | Swing | ||||
