Chennai, Jan 18 The by-elections to Tamil Nadu's Erode East Assembly seat will take place on February 27 and counting of votes will be held on March 2.
The Election Commission announced that the candidates can file nominations upto January 31. Nomination papers will be scrutinised on February 8 and the candidates can withdraw their nominations till February 10.
The by-elections were necessitated following the sudden demise of the sitting MLA, Thirumahan Everaa of the Congress, due to a heart attack on January 4.
Everaa had defeated Tamil Manila Congress leader, Yuvaraja by 8,904 votes.
The by-election is a major opportunity for the AIADMK and its interim General Secretary K. Palaniswami. The AIADMK has been on the losing side of elections since 2019 general elections when it lost all but one of the 39 Lok Sabha seats to the DMK-led alliance.
The AIADMK is facing political turbulence after the expulsion of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, V.K. Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran as the powerful Thevar community of south Tamil Nadu, which has been a traditional vote bank for the AIADMK, has been antagonised by the expulsion of the senior leaders all of whom belong to the community.
The bypolls can be considered a major testing time for Palaniswami and if his AIADMK wrests the seat from the Congress, then he can turn into a major power centre in the days to come.
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