Perundurai, long described as an AIADMK stronghold, may see a changed contest in the upcoming by-election, with both the AIADMK and DMK perceived to be losing strength locally, according to party functionaries.
Election history cited by local leaders shows that from 1957 to 2026, the constituency has largely favoured the AIADMK, which has won 10 times, while the Communist Party of India has won four times, and the Congress and the Samyukta Socialist Party have won once each.
In the most recent election, AIADMK candidate Jayakumar won by 9,693 votes. His resignation has now triggered the bypoll. In that election, out of 2,14,451 voters, 1,99,874 votes were polled. Jayakumar secured 70,302 votes, DMK’s Thoppu Venkatachalam got 60,609, and TVK’s V.P. Arunachalam polled 59,482.
Functionaries from the AIADMK and DMK said the bypoll dynamics could favour TVK. They argued that any AIADMK replacement candidate could face a significant split of votes due to Jayakumar’s personal influence, while sections aligned with parties such as the two Communist groups, IUML and VCK are seen leaning towards TVK. With TVK already having a strong base from the last election, they said further vote fragmentation in the DMK and AIADMK camps could improve TVK’s prospects.
