Representatives of political parties, who attended a consultative meeting convened by Collector L. Nirmal Raj on Saturday, voiced their opposition to holding the byelection to the Tiruvarur Assembly constituency, citing ongoing relief work in the aftermath of Cyclone Gaja.

The Collector, who is also the District Election Officer, convened the meeting after the State Chief Electoral Officer asked him for an opinion based on a representation from D. Raja, national secretary, Communist Party of India, seeking postponement of the byelection.

The bypoll is scheduled for January 28. Tiruvarur was among the districts that were bady hit by the cyclone, which wreaked havoc in Delta districts on November 16. At the hurriedly convened meeting, most of the political representatives reportedly came out against holding the byelection now. .Sundaramoorthy, district secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist), set the tone for the meeting, asserting that an election was the last thing on people’s minds.

‘Mood of the people’

“We reflected the people’s mood at the meeting. Cyclone Gaja caused large-scale destruction and people have not even recovered from the mental agony caused by calamity. Relief has not reached people yet. Even enumeration (of the damage) has not been completed. People wonder what the necessity is to hold the byelection at this juncture. We aired the people’s view at the meeting,” Mr. Sundaramoorthy told The Hindu. He claimed that a majority of the participants at the meeting echoed his view.

A.K.S.Vijayan, who represented the DMK at the meeting, sought to make a subtle distinction and said that his party wanted the relief works completed quickly and the byelection held soon after. “Farmers and people have lost their livelihood. Relief should be given to them quickly. Those who had lost their photo identity cards should also be given the same. We want the byelection to be held immediately after completing the process,” Mr.Vijayan, State Agricultural Wing Secretary of the DMK, told The Hindu.

Representatives of the AIADMK, DMDK and Congress also attended the meeting. Mr. Raj assured the representatives that he would include their views in his report and a decision would be taken by the Election Commission of India.

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam deputy general secretary TTV. Dhinakaran, speaking to reporters at Thanjavur, said that the AIADMK and the DMK were scared of facing the byelection and claimed that people were not against holding the bypoll.