Bypoll in Madurantakam was forced: Palaniswami

Palaniswami accuses TVK of causing Madurantakam bypoll through ‘horse trading’

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, campaigning for the party’s Madurantakam bypoll candidate, said on Thursday that the election had become necessary because the MLA earlier elected from the constituency had been “bought in horse trading”.

Palaniswami links bypoll to MLA’s resignation

“You all know why this bypoll was necessitated? They [MLA] have been bought in horse trading. The bypoll in Madurantakam was forced,” Mr. Palaniswami said during the campaign.

He said that, “on the advice” of TVK founder C. Joseph Vijay, TVK functionaries had made the AIADMK MLA resign to “save their government”.

According to Mr. Palaniswami, she has since joined the TVK and has now been named as the TVK candidate for the bypoll.

“It is a matter of shame. If you are man enough or have the courage, you should take it head-on,” Mr. Palaniswami said.

His remarks sought to place the reason for the bypoll at the centre of the campaign, with the AIADMK leader accusing the TVK side of engineering the vacancy rather than facing the contest directly.

‘AIADMK gave her the chance’, says leader

Mr. Palaniswami said the TVK candidate had earlier been given the chance to contest as an AIADMK candidate during the 2026 Assembly polls only to serve the people.

“The electorate in Madurantakam wanted the AIADMK to win, and so voted for its candidate in the previous Assembly polls and made her win,” Mr. Palaniswami recalled.

He criticised the TVK candidate for “not having any sense of gratitude and for having disrespected the electorate of Madurantakam”.

Mr. Palaniswami also said she had won the Assembly election because of the hard work of the functionaries of the AIADMK and its allies.

By invoking the earlier mandate, the AIADMK leader framed the bypoll not only as a contest for the Madurantakam Assembly constituency but also as a question of whether the previous vote for the AIADMK had been respected.

The report was published on September 25, 2026, at 12:26 am IST.

Source: The Hindu