Assembly bypolls 2024: DMK likely to retain Vikravandi seat; Anniyur Siva leads with nearly 40,000 votes

The ruling DMK looks to have successfully passed the litmus test in the Vikravandi assembly seat with its candidate, Anniyur Siva, poised to win. At 1:00 pm, Siva was leading with a margin of 39,435 votes over his rival PMK’s vice-president C Anbumani. 

There were 29 candidates in the fray to be elected as the next Vikravandi MLA. The byelection for this Assembly constituency was necessitated because of death of N Pugazhenthi. 

The main contest in the constituency is between DMK candidate Anniyur Siva and PMK’s (NDA) C Anbumani. The AIADMK boycotted the elections, alleging they wouldn’t be conducted fairly under the DMK government. 

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin was seen distributing sweets to party workers in Chennai after reports of the party leading in the Vikravandi Assembly bypoll came in. 

This byelection was a litmus test for the ruling DMK, which has faced criticism over law-and-order issues following the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy, where 65 people died after consuming spurious liquor, and the murder of BSP state chief Armstrong. 

Vikravandi assembly constituency is one of the 234 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu. It is a general category assembly seat. It is situated in Viluppuram district and is one of the 6 assembly segments of Viluppuram (SC) Parliament Seat. 

 According to data from Chanakya, there are 63,829 SC voters and 2,946 ST voters in the Vikravandi seat, as per 2011 Census. 

Rural voters comprise a majority of the electorates with 2,13,715 such voters (around 95.76 percent), according to 2011 Census. Urban voters comprise 4.24 percent of the electorates at approximately 9,463. 

In the 2021 assembly elections, Vikravandi had a total electorate of 234,841 voters, of which 116,118 were male, 118,698 female and 25 voters of the third gender. 

On July 10, Vikravandi constituency reported a voter turnout of 82.48 percent, 0.05 percent lower than what was recorded for this seat in the 2021 assembly elections, in which this constituency reported a voting percentage of 82.53 percent. 

In the 2021 Assembly election, Pugazhenthi N of DMK defeated Muthamilselvan R of ADMK by a margin of 9,573 votes, which was 4.97 percent of the total votes polled.