Omalur TVK candidate claims cash distribution by party nominee in neighbouring constituency led to his defeat

R.V. Adhiyamaan, who was fielded by the Tamilaga Vettri kazhagam (TVK) from Omalur in the recently-concluded Assembly elections, has attributed his defeat to alleged cash distribution by the party’s candidate in the neighbouring Salem West constituency.

At a meeting of TVK functionaries held in Omalur in May, Mr. Adhiyamaan outlined what he believed were the reasons for his defeat.

In a video, since widely shared on social media, Mr. Adhiyamaan said the first reason for his defeat was the distribution of ₹2,000 to voters by Salem West TVK candidate S. Lakshmanan who has been elected the constituency’s MLA. “This impacted the neighbouring constituency of Omalur. Our hard work in the final two days was undone by that cash distribution, and we lost 6,000 to 10,000 votes,” he alleged.

| Video Credit:
Special Arrangement

It was not clear whether Mr. Adhiyamaan meant that this had affected him because voters in his constituency also expected cash for their votes, or because they were disillusioned that the new party had also resorted to voter bribery.

Mr. Adhiyamaan lost to AIADMK candidate R. Mani by 14,539 votes in the elections. Mr. Lakshmanan had won by 74,867 votes in the Salem West Assembly constituency.

Mr. Adhiyamaan was not available for comment.