Chennai, Mar 2 (IANS): Congress leader and DMK-led Secular Progressive Front candidate, E.V.K.S. Elangovan has established an early lead in the Erode East by-elections.

After the first round of counting of votes on Thursday, the Congress leader is leading by a margin of over 6,000 votes against his nearest rival and AIADMK candidate K.S. Thennarasu.

It may be noted that of the 2.27 lakh voters in the constituency, 1.70 lakh cast their votes taking the polling percentage to 74.79 per cent.

The by-election was necessitated following the demise of the sitting legislator E. Thirumahan Everaa of the Congress on January 4. The deceased legislator's father and senior Congress leader, Elangovan is contesting the polls as the Congress candidate.

In the 2021 Assembly elections, E. Thirumahan Everaa of the Congress defeated the Tamil Manila Congress (TMC) candidate, M. Yuvraj by a margin of 8904 votes. In this election, the Makkal Needhi Maiam(MNM) of super star Kamal Haasan has also extended support to the DMK front. The MNM garnered 10,000 votes in the 2021 Assembly elections and this is an added advantage for the DMK front candidate.

A total of 77 candidates are contesting in the bypolls which include Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) candidates Megna Navaneethan and S. Anand.