DMK president M.K. Stalin has reportedly warned party functionaries that the party should not lose its security deposit in the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Assembly by-elections, as it did in the 2017 RK Nagar bypoll in Chennai.
According to information that has emerged, Stalin held discussions with the DMK’s election work committee members deployed for the bypolls, along with former ministers and district secretaries.
During the meeting, he is said to have recalled that in the 2017 RK Nagar by-election, the DMK candidate Maruthu Ganesh secured only 24,651 votes and consequently lost the security deposit, while the AIADMK retained its deposit.
Stalin reportedly noted that after action was taken against certain DMK functionaries, the party went on to win the RK Nagar seat in the subsequent general election. He stressed that the mistakes seen during the RK Nagar bypoll should not be repeated in the forthcoming by-elections.
