Congress' EVKS Elangovan leads by 26000 votes against AIADMK's Thennarasu

Congress' EVKS Elangovan established a huge lead of over 26,000 votes against his nearest rival KS Thennarasu of the AIADMK in the Erode East Assembly bypoll. Counting of polled votes was proceeding on Thursday.

The clear lead of the ruling DMK backed Elangovan, at the end of the fifth round of counting, prompted celebrations from supporters of the Dravidian party-headed Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA), whose other constituents include the two Left parties.

At the end of the fifth round of counting, Elangovan had secured 39,751 votes while Thennarasu received 13,574 votes. The Naam Tamilar Katchi candidate polled 2,620 votes and S Anand (DMDK) 386 votes.

Commenting on the early trends that could possibly ensure his win, Elangovan said it was an indication that SPA would sweep the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the state as well. While Tamil Nadu has 39 LS seats, neighbouring Puducherry has one.

The Erode East bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Congress MLA E Thirumahan Everaa, Elangovan's son on January 4.

Nearly 75 per cent votes were polled in the by-election held on February 27 in this constituency in Erode district, located some 400 km from capital Chennai.