If successful, VCK would become the fifth political party in Tamil Nadu after the DMK, AIADMK, PMK and the DMDK to earn the recognition.
CHENNAI: By winning two constituencies – Chidambaram and Villupuram – under its own ‘pot’ symbol in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) may fulfil its long-pending ambition of securing the status of a recognised party in the state.
If successful, VCK would become the fifth political party in Tamil Nadu after the DMK, AIADMK, PMK and the DMDK to earn the recognition.
Despite concerns among alliance members of the INDIA bloc over the party contesting on its ‘pot’ symbol, VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan won from Chidambaram constituency with a margin of over one lakh votes. This is in contrast to the victory he secured in the 2019 election, when he defeated the AIADMK candidate by a margin of only 3,219 votes. His party was in alliance with the DMK then too.
Addressing media persons in Ariyalur on Tuesday, Thirumavalavan said, “People have voted for us in two constituencies – Villupuram and Chidambaram – and have given us recognition in the state. The voters have created an opportunity for us to get ‘state party’ status.”
As for D Ravikumar, who also contested on the DMK’s symbol in 2019, he won from Villupuram with a margin of 1.28 lakh votes this time. Although the margin came down to 70,703 votes, he won comfortably under the ‘pot’ symbol. By winning the Chidambaram and Villupuram Lok Sabha seats, the VCK has met the criteria for state party recognition.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), a party must meet at least one of five conditions to get the recognition. Two of them are: “In the last general election to the House of the People from a particular state, the candidates set up by the party should have secured not less than six percent of the total valid votes polled in the state; in addition, the party should have returned at least one member to the House of the People from that state at such general election.”
A senior election official told TNIE, “Political parties must fulfil at least one of the five conditions to gain recognition. Therefore, by securing two Lok Sabha seats from Tamil Nadu, the VCK will naturally qualify for the ‘state party’ tag.”
It may be noted that, in Tamil Nadu, the MDMK and the TMC(M) also have previously been recognised as state parties. The MDMK, however, lost its recognition over failure to uphold the conditions while the TMC(M) lost the tag following its merger with the Congress in 2002 before it parted ways later.
(With inputs from Ariyalur)
Source : TOI