DMK president M.K. Stalin termed the victory of party candidate D.M. Kathir Anand in the Vellore Lok Sabha election as a wholesome victory and a win for democracy. “The victory is a wholesome victory. The Centre and the State governments formed an alliance and used political power and money power. Despite their designs, we won, it is commendable,” he said.

Mr. Stalin said the alliance had won all seats, except one in the Lok Sabha polls. “As far as the Vellore polls are concerned, it was put off due to a conspiracy by the BJP and the AIADMK in cahoots with the Election Commission and the Income-Tax department. We managed to win despite that. I thank all those in the DMK and the alliance partners who worked hard for this victory,” he said and thanked the voters of the constituency.

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri said the AIADMK had brought in its entire Cabinet to Vellore. “They thought they could win with money power and tried all sorts of methods to defeat the DMK’s candidate. This is victory for democracy,” he said. The voters had shown the door to the “double-faced” AIADMK which supported efforts to snatch away rights of minorities, Mr. Alagiri said.

CPI(M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan said the voters of Vellore defeated the efforts and designs of the AIADMK-BJP combine who thought that they could win the election by any means possible. “The result is a testament to the fact that the people of Tamil Nadu will never accept the communal, anti-people BJP-AIADMK combine,” he said.