Vilavancode assembly by poll announced
A notification from the Assembly Secretariat, which was issued last month, said the speaker had accepted her resignation and the seat had become vacant with effect from February 24.
Representative image
CHENNAI: With the Vilavancode Assembly constituency declared vacant, following the resignation of S. Vijayadharani, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that the by-election to this segment would be conducted on April 19.
A notification from the Assembly Secretariat, which was issued last month, said the speaker had accepted her resignation and the seat had become vacant with effect from February 24.
According to the ECI, the date of nomination would start from March 27 and the scrutiny of the same would be held on March 28. The last date for withdrawal of candidatures would be on March 30. With the election date fixed on April 19, the counting of the votes would be held on June 4.
During 2021 assembly elections, Vijayadharani, who had contested from the Congress seat, won for the second time with 87,473 votes by defeating BJP candidate with a margin of 28,669 votes. Vilavancode constituency, located in coastal Kanniyakumari district is mainly dominated by Nadar community.
According to unconfirmed reports from Anna Arivalayam, the DMK headquarters is likely to give the sitting seat to Congress. As both Congress and Communist party have dominated Vilavancode constituency for several years, the Congress is expected to contest the seat.
"The seat sharing between the DMK and Congress will be finalised by Monday and the list of candidate will be announced shortly," Congress legislative leader K Selvaperunthagai told reporters on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Vijayadharani, who resigned her MLA post and joined the BJP party, is expected to contest for the April 18 Lok Sabha polls from Kanniyakumari seat. According to AIADMK sources, the opposition party is likely to feild its candidate against the Congress candidate.
