Chennai: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) supremo and Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay is all set to launch his campaign on Friday at Maduranthakam for the October 6 bypolls.
Amid burning issues like strong opposition to the government's proposal to build a new Secretariat-Assembly complex near Marina Beach and unceasing power cuts, Vijay is set to embark on his campaign trail for the bypolls.
Bypolls to Maduranthakam (Chengelpet district adjoining Chennai) and Dharapuram Assembly (Tiruppur District in western Tamil Nadu) Constituencies will be held on October 6.
The by-elections were necessitated after AIADMK legislators Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama resigned from their posts and joined the ruling TVK, which has fielded them from the same segments from which they were elected in the April Assembly election.
Curiously, the Left parties that are extending outside support to the TVK, based on which it survives, have not joined the ruling party-led alliance and are fighting bypolls as a separate front.
The nominees of the main opposition DMK, key Dravidian party AIADMK, and the Tamil nationalist NTK are in the fray.
The Vanniyar-dominant PMK, which wields considerable influence in several northern parts of the state, has not extended support to any party.
A key poll plank of the Opposition is that the bypolls were not a natural outcome, but were forced upon people as the TVK had ‘lured AIADMK MLAs' to shore up its numbers in the Assembly.
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has already hit the campaign trail ‘seeking justice’ for the betrayal.
Vijay is expected to counter such opposition attack in his first public outreach event, and the ruling TVK appears to bank on its chief's popularity and the welfare schemes, including expanding the free-bus ride scheme for women and the gold ring for newborns.
He is expected to address people by 3 pm and only those with event passes with QR codes will be allowed entry, the ruling party said, and requested elderly people and others like pregnant women to avoid gathering near the campaign venue.
This is the first time the TVK regime is facing bypolls after it assumed office in May 2026.
The Madras High Court on September 24 dismissed a petition, which, among other pleas, sought a direction to the Election Commission not to accept the nomination forms of Sathyabama and Maragatham Kumaravel to contest the bypolls.
