AIADMK seeks to rebuild SC support in two Tamil Nadu byelections

The AIADMK is contesting byelections in the Scheduled Caste-reserved Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly constituencies with hopes of restoring support among voters in a community that has historically formed part of its base. The party won 32 of Tamil Nadu’s 44 reserved seats in the 2016 Assembly election. Its total subsequently fell to 15 in 2021 and eight five years later, according to the supplied material.

The byelections therefore offer the party an opportunity to test whether it can halt that decline. Two newly elected AIADMK legislators, K. Maragatham Kumaravel and P.

Sathyabama, left the organisation after voting in favour of the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in an Assembly trust motion in mid-May. Their departures have added to the political significance of the contests. C.K.

Thamizharasan, a four-time MLA who was elected three times on an AIADMK ticket, blamed the current leadership for failing to sustain pro-SC policies and develop effective electoral strategies. He cited the abolition of the hereditary Village Officer system and the appointment of SCs as Village Administrative Officers during M.G. Ramachandran’s tenure.

He also referred to changes to post-matriculation scholarships under Jayalalithaa’s government, arguing that later conditions became more stringent and made the scheme difficult for SC students to access. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam’s M. Anandan rejected criticism of SC representation, saying the DMK and AIADMK had performed poorly despite governing for decades.

He said the TVK gave SCs equal importance in its organisational structure. AIADMK leaders M. Dhanapal and V.

Sampathkumar defended Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s record, citing welfare programmes, party positions held by SC leaders and a 7.5% horizontal reservation for government-school students. They said voters had begun to recognise what they described as a previous mistake and predicted an AIADMK recovery.