Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly by-election, 2002–2003

Tamil Nadu assembly by-election, 2002

February 21 and May 31, 2002; February 26, 2003
5 vacant seats in the Legislature of Tamil Nadu
First party Second party   Leader J. Jayalalithaa M. Karunanidhi Party AIADMK DMK Alliance N/A INC+ Leader's seat Andipatti Chepauk Seats won 5 0 Seat change +4 -3 Popular vote 319,906 212,100 Percentage 53.5% 35.5%
Chief Minister before election O. Panneerselvam(Acting) AIADMK Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa AIADMK

By-elections to Andipatti constituency was held in Tamil Nadu, India, on February 21, 2002. Three state assembly constituencies, Saidapet, Vaniyambadi, and Acharapakkam were held on May 31, 2002. In 2003, by-election in Sathankulam was held on February 26, 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 chief, 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, the Election 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 of Thanga Tamil Selvan to facilitate the election of J. Jayalalithaa, who had her corruption charges cleared in late December in 2001. She could be sworn in as Chief Minister only as MLA seat.^[3]

As AIADMK had won 132 seats in 2001 State assembly election, even with the breakup of its previous alliance with Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC), Indian National Congress (INC), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) and Pattali 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 of Vanniyars electorates. It was observed that the Dalit vote base coupled with the popularity of Jayalalithaa led to the defeat, allowing ADMK to wrest this seat from the PMK.

Alliances

Due to reported frustrations with J. Jayalalithaa, almost all of her allies from 2001 election, left the ADMK alliance and started their own third front. The Third Front consisted of CPM, CPI, Indian National League (INL), TMC and INC. ADMK, 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. The PMK, who backed AIADMK in 2001, backed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in this by-election, which was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Results

After 3rd by-election:

• The number on the left, in the table, represents the total number of MLAs after the by-election, and the number in parenthesis represents, the seats picked up or lost due to the by-election
• The numbers presented for 2001, represents, the alliance, when the PMK and Third Front allied with the ADMK.

Constituents and results

Source: Election Commission of India^[5]

Andipatti

Saidapet

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]

Vaniyambadi

Source: The Hindu^[7]

• Indian National League is not a recognized party by ECI, so Nawaz was listed as an Independent, rather than under the INL banner in the election ballots.

Acharapakkam (SC)

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.

Sathankulam

Source: ECI^[9]
Election was necessitated due to death of S.S. Mani Nadar.

See also

1. ECI Press Release

References

1. ↑ T N GOPALAN Posted: Mar 06, 2003 at 0000 hrs IST (2003-03-06). "Amma in firm control". Indianexpress.com. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
2. ↑ "EC decision incorrect, says Chidambaram". The Hindu. 2002-01-21. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
3. ↑ "Friendless in Andipatti". Hindu.com. 2001-12-04. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
4. ↑ "Welcome to Frontline : Vol. 29 :: No. 19". Hinduonnet.com. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
5. ↑ May 2002 by-election results
6. ↑ "Welcome to Frontline : Vol. 29 :: No. 19". Hinduonnet.com. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
7. ↑ "Ruling party tag helps in Vaniyambadi". The Hindu. 2002-06-03. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
8. ↑ "Dalits favour AIADMK in Acharapakkam". The Hindu. 2002-06-03. Retrieved 2012-09-21. 
9. ↑ "bye_HP_AC14". Eci.nic.in. 2003-02-26. Retrieved 2012-09-21.