Titanic margin sinks rival parties

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The victory for the ruling AIADMK in Sankarankoil, as its leader J. Jayalalithaa pointed out at a Chennai function Wednesday, has not come as a surprise.

But the titanic margin of 68,000-odd votes with which it forced its rivals, including Dravidian major DMK, to forfeit deposits, has astounded many.

In fact, the resounding win has made a few, who claimed that the AIADMK would face its ‘litmus test’ at Sankarankoil, eat humble pie. Though the general perception is that the ruling dispensation alone can pull off wins in by-polls, the impressive margin has given value-addition to AIADMK’s victory.

“It is a record of sorts,” said a senior party functionary in this reserved constituency where women outnumber men and farmers and weavers constitute a major chunk of its 2-lakh-plus voters. “We smelt success from the start despite the so-called heavy odds,” he said.

Though there was systematic campaign that Tamil Nadu was facing a ‘dark era’ due to power cuts and that weavers were resorting to panic selling of their looms, the AIADMK took to the field with gusto and confidence.

Its think-tank had read the voters’ pulse precisely, which the DMK, MDMK and DMDK had failed to. The voters had clarity.

They knew power cut was not a ‘sudden phenomenon’ for which Ms Jayalalithaa alone should be blamed.

And they were also aware that a loss for the AIADMK would make no difference to the power equation in the state.

“Why should we irritate a party in power? They can do something for us in the next four years,” reasons Mr S. Sankaran, a voter in Thevarkulam.

With the Congress as its main ally, the DMK could not raise the Lankan Tamils issue which Ms Jayalalithaa took up nonchalantly.

After the AIADMK supremo accused the DMK candidate of land grab, the embarrassment in the rival camp became intense.

The MDMK and DMDK, the electorate knew well, were fighting for ‘prestige retrieval’. The irony is that even the combined votes of all the second string parties could not match the grand total of the winner in this by-poll.