After AIADMK, NDA to boycott Erode East by-polls, says focus on "eliminating" DMK in 2026

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], January 12 (ANI): After AIADMK and DMDK, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA also announced the boycott of the upcoming assembly by-polls in the Erode East constituency on Sunday.
Alleging that DMK "locked up" and "tortured" people in 2023, the NDA said it doesn't want the people to be "confined" again. It also reiterated its resolve to "eliminate" the DMK in the 2026 assembly elections and provide good governance to the people.
The by-polls, scheduled on February 5, are necessitated following the death of EVKS Elangovan, the MLA from this seat and a member of the Congress. He passed away in December last year.
"As for the Erode East constituency, what is going to happen is a by-election for the by-election. During the by-election held in 2023, we saw the public being locked up and tortured. We all faced the fact that the DMK, in its greed for power as the ruling party, violated all the election rules," the NDA said in a statement.
"The upcoming 2026 assembly elections are the elections that will completely eliminate the DMK. The National Democratic Alliance is continuously working towards that goal. In the midst of this, the National Democratic Alliance does not want to allow the DMK to confine the public like cattle again in the by-elections," it added.
"After careful deliberation by all the leaders of the National Democratic Alliance party who care about the welfare of the people, we have decided that the National Democratic Alliance will boycott the Erode East by-election. Our goal is to eliminate the DMK in the 2026 assembly elections and provide good governance of the National Democratic Alliance for the people," the NDA further stated.
Notably, after NDA's exit from the polls the election virtually becomes a no-contest.
BJP in its statement also alleged the ruling DMK government of "acting in direct opposition to the Constitution given to us by Ambedkar."
"The people, who have been enduring the hardships of this regime every day, have started saying loudly that this is not the Dravidian model. It is the Disaster Model," it added. (ANI)