N. Maruthu Ganesh’s phone keeps ringing all evening. “Don’t congratulate me. This is a democratic party; there is a process to be followed for candidate selection,” he tells one caller. Yet, in the background on Friday, workers were bringing DMK flags out of his office behind Old Washermanpet’s Post Office, discarding faded banners and saving fresh ones for later. “From now on, come to the office daily,” Mr. Ganesh, the DMK’s candidate for the countermanded April 12 byelections to the R.K. Nagar assembly constituency, tells a friend who has stopped by.
R.K. Nagar is waking up to another election campaign, but it never really went to sleep. “I did not campaign, but we made sure we took up all issues in earnest. I would wake up at 5.30 a.m. go to the ground nearby and then take trips to various localities on my way back,” he says. He flips through photographs on his phone of him leading demonstrations, meeting officials and assisting residents.
“The party will take issues to the people but at the end of the day, it is about politics after all,” says R. Loganathan, who was the CPI(M) candidate. He is not sure yet whether his party will contest again but will follow whatever orders come from above.
There is no excitement yet: Mr. Loganathan is sitting inside an empty party office at Vinayakapuram, the doors to which he unlocked himself. The CPI(M) is to announce a decision on November 30.
Mr. Loganathan and Mr. Ganesh are now used to being standby candidates. Both live within the constituency and have been expected to weigh in on any issues that cropped up since April. There have been many: waterlogging during rain, traffic congestion due to construction of the Metro Rail, and unavailability of clean drinking water, among others. “My people are poor. Why are they poor? Because no one who lives within the locality becomes an MLA,” says Mr. Ganesh. According to him, no one who lives in the constituency has won since 1980; E. Madhusudhanan moved into the locality after his victory.
The former CPI(M) candidate fears that cash for votes may continue this time. “I see every chance of that continuing and becoming worse this time.” He pauses to count on his fingers and says, “Yes, I think we have sufficient time to campaign. The bigger parties can cover the whole constituency in a day.” Mr. Ganesh, who had approached the court for a compensation of ₹5 lakh after the Election Commission’s decision to cancel the election, says money will not be an issue. “It will not be much of a personal burden if I contest again. It is only ₹5 lakh,” he says.
Both former candidates worry about potential traffic blocks. “No party will be able to open its campaign offices in front of Apollo Hospital again because of the Metro Rail construction. If this campaign is anything like the last one, vehicles from all over the State will choke these roads,” says Mr. Ganesh.
‘Only a coincidence’
The BJP also made sure it is in the picture on Friday. The party’s state unit president Tamilisai Soundararajan was in the constituency, coincidentally, according to her. Ms. Soundararajan visited buildings constructed by the Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board near Tondiarpet’s Seniamman Koil. “I had planned my visit two days ago. The Election Commission’s announcement came while I was en route and I decided to go anyway,” she says. The State BJP is to have a high-level meeting on Saturday to consider whether to contest the December 21 election.