Erode East by-polls: Elangovan leads with huge vote margin in round 1

COIMBATORE: Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan, backed by DMK, led by a significant margin of votes in the first round of counting for the Erode East by-polls on Thursday.

In the first round of results declared officially, EVKS Elangovan secured 8,429 votes as against his arch rival AIADMK candidate KS Thennarasu, who has recorded 2,873 votes.

If this early trend continues in the further rounds of counting, EVKS Elangovan is likely to record a thumping victory in the by-polls. Currently, the vote margin between the DMK and AIADMK candidates stands at 5,556. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) candidate Menaka came third with 522 votes, while DMDK Anand managed to secure 112 votes.

Significantly, late Thirumagan Everaa, son of EVKS Elangovan won by a margin of 8,904 votes against Tamil Maanila Candidate (TMC) Yuvaraja, who contested on the two leaves symbol in the last Erode East assembly polls. But even in the initial rounds of counting, EVKS Elangovan is expected to surpass this vote margin, unless there are some unexpected twists.

Meanwhile, the DMK and Congress workers, who have gathered in large numbers in front of Government College of Engineering in Chithode, where the counting process is underway, broke out into celebrations by firing crackers and distributing sweets as EVKS Elangovan emerged with a clear lead. The cadres also descended in the house of EVKS Elangovan to greet him for the expected victory.

Earlier, the media personnel became agitated as they were not allowed to enter the counting centre in the institution premises. District Collector and Election Officer H Krishnanunni however said that they were restricted only as per norms of the Election Commission.

Of the total electorate of 2.27 lakh, the Erode by-polls recorded a polling of 74.79 per cent on 27 February. A total of 77 candidates contested the by-polls.