Though several senior leaders of the party posed this question, Kumaravel, the President of the party, did not change his decision.
"If we do our campaigning effectively, we can make Shankar win" said Kumaravel.
Namasivayam has been a minister for fifteen years. It was Kumaravel, who, when he was the Chief Minister, first made Namasivayam a minister. But, at the time of the next election, Namasivayam quit Kumaravel's party and contested the election as a candidate of the rival political party. With the rival political party winning the election, Namasivayam became a minister in the government formed by that party. With that party winning the next election too, Namasivayam continued to remain a minister.
Though it was widely expected that Kumaravel's party would win the next election, it was also perceived that Namasivayam would win in his constituency, by virtue of his political power, built over fifteen years.
Kumaravel's party putting up an inexperienced young person as the candidate to fight Namasivayam, belying everyone's expectation that the party would put up a strong candidate against Namasivayam and make all out efforts to defeat him, surprised not only Kumaravel's partymen, but also political observers, the media and the public.
When the election campaign was at the peak, a report that Kumaravel's partymen were distributing money to the voters in Namasivayam's constituency, with a view to defeat Namasivayam, appeared in a section of the media.
Kumaravel issued a statement stoutly denying these allegations and warning that his party would take legal action against those who spread such false news. However, such reports continued to appear in some sections of the media.
A couple of days prior to the polling day, reports began to appear in the media that Namasivayam was distributing money to the voters. During a search by election officials, huge amounts of cash were seized from people belonging to Namasivayam's party.
The Election Commission announced that it was countermanding the election in Namasivayam's constituency, since huge amounts of cash were seized and on investigation, it was found that distribution of money to the voters took place on a large scale.
Kumaravel's party won a majority of the seats in the election and came to power.
Kumaravel and Paramasivam, a senior leader of the party, who was close to Kumaravel, were discussing the election results.
"Fortunately, the election was countermanded in Namasivayam's constituency. Otherwise, he would have won. Now that we have come to power, in the by-election to be held after some time, people will vote for us, the ruling party. Namasivayam can't win" said Paramasivam.
"How do you think that this has happened?" asked Kumaravel, smiling.
"Due to Namasivayam's getting caught, when his partymen tried to bribe the voters."
"But before that, there were reports that our partymen had bribed the voters!"
"Yes. What an outrageous allegation! We have, since a long time, been scrupulously following the policy of not paying money for getting votes. Is the media not aware of this? Yet, the media published such scandalous reports about our party. I was pained by such reports."
"Paramasivam! It was me who got such reports published, using my contacts in the media" said Kumaravel.
"Why did you do this?" asked Paramasivam, stunned by Kumaravel's revelation.
"Paramasivam! I knew that defeating Paramasivam won't be easy. Though the opinion polls had predicted that we would win the elections, people couldn't have been sure about who would win. Therefore, people in his constituency would have voted for him, anticipating that he would become the minister, if his party won the election. The Chief Election Officer of our state is a strict person. I was sure that if he came to know about distribution of money to the voters, he would countermand the election. Since Namasivayam knew that our party won't bribe the voters, he, at the beginning, didn't distribute money to the voters. But, after seeing the media reports about our party bribing the voters, Namasivayam panicked and resorted to distribution of money to the voters. I asked our partymen to watch how and from where the money was getting distributed and report the source of money to the election officials. Acting on the information given by our partymen, the election officials conducted raids and seized huge amounts of cash from people belonging to Namasivayam's party. As expected by me, the Chief Election Officer of the state recommended countermanding the election and accepting his recommendation, the Election Commission countermanded the election. As you say, people would vote for us in the by-election that will be held after a few weeks." said Kumaravel, with excitement.
"You have done what everyone considered impossible" said Paramasivam, sharing the excitement of Kumaravel.
Knowing One's Strength
cheLvArkkuch chellAdhadhu il.
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