nVisuals of people engaged in fisticuffs over non-receipt of cash from the major contestants for casting their votes in the bypolls held at Vikravandi and Naguneri in Tamil Nadu went viral even as polling was underway in the two Assembly constituencies.

The one minute-long visuals aired by Tamil news channels featured voters who were yet to get the money taking on those who walked away with the formers’ share of cash for vote. The policemen on duty watched silently while the troublemakers had a free run.

Assembly constituency  of  Vikravandi went to bypoll to elect the legislator in place of the DMK member who died while by-election was necessitated in Nanguneri because of the resignation of Vasanth Kumar of the Congress who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kanyakumari in the May 2019 polls.

While Vikravandi saw a direct fight between the DMK and the AIADMK, in Nanguneri, the contest was between the Congress (supported by the DMK) and the AIADMK which was supported by the constituents of the  NDA.

The results of the by-poll would not make any major impact in Tamil Nadu politics as the ruling AIADMK has a moderate majority in the assembly which has an effective strength of 234. “This was one of the insipid and issueless bypoll I have seen in my life. The DMK and the AIADMK which swear by castles and classless society had turned the election into a cash and caste contest,” said Raveendran Doraisamy, a political analyst baseda in Chennai.He pointed out that both the parties had fielded Vanniyar candidates in Vikravandi where there is considerable Vanniyar population. In Nanguneri, the Congress and the AIADMK fielded  candidates from the Nadar community as the constituency has a considerable Nadar population, pointed out Doraisamy.

He reiterated that elections in Tamil Nadu are won

by cash and caste and not by ideology . No untoward incidents has been reported from both the constituencies except the scuffles for cash for votes visuals .