The decision of the Election Commission (EC) to defer the bypoll to the Aravakurichi Assembly constituency has come as a disappointment to voters.
Barring a brief period between November 2016 and September 2017, there has been no representative for the Aravakurichi constituency in the Assembly since the May 2016 election.
Acting on complaints of large-scale bribery by political parties, the EC rescinded the election to the constituency along with the one to the Thanjavur constituency in May 2016. The EC chose to conduct the poll after a gap of about five months in November 2016.
The tenure of AIADMK MLA V. Senthil Balaji, who trounced DMK’s candidate K.C. Palanisamy in the November 2016 election, came to an abrupt end after the Speaker of the Assembly disqualified him along with 17 other AIADMK legislators in September 2017. Since then, the constituency has remained without an MLA. Of the 33 months that have passed since the 2016 Assembly election, the constituency has had a representative for just about 10 months.
Voters in the constituency were hoping that the EC would conduct the bypoll to Aravakurichi along with the Lok Sabha election. But the decision of the EC to defer the bypoll, citing ongoing litigation, had come as a rude shock to them.
“In the absence of an MLA or local body representatives, we could not effectively air our grievances. I fear that the Aravakurichi constituency may go without a representative until the end of the current tenure of the Assembly. It is a sorry state of affairs,” said M.S. Manian, a resident of Aravakurichi.
The EC’s decision has disappointed various Opposition parties, including the DMK, the Congress, the MDMK and the communist parties. Mr. Balaji, who recently joined the DMK after leaving the AMMK, had sought a party ticket to contest from Aravakurichi.
“It is ridiculous. How long will we be without a representative in the Assembly? Voters have been denied their democratic rights. There seems to be a hidden agenda behind the decision,” claimed S. Jothimani, a youth Congress leader.
She said the people of the constituency had been discriminated against by the government.
“The voters have had no one to raise their grievances with the officials for such a long time. Welfare assistance has not reached the people. The Election Commission should come forward to conduct the bypoll along with the Lok Sabha election,” she demanded.