00:00The other big political story for the day, what we have our eyes set on, is both the states of
00:07Tamil Nadu and Bengal.
00:09Why? Because there's a twin bipole battle that is currently underway.
00:14Counting of the votes are to begin shortly in both Tamil Nadu and Bengal.
00:18And these are quite high-profile seats and seats that have witnessed a lot of drama during the campaigns
00:25that have taken place right ahead of the bipole battle itself.
00:30Three parties, one high-stakes showdown in Tamil Nadu's Dharapuram,
00:36three-cornered contests in the two constituencies in West Bengal.
00:42Well, the question that remains for either of these states at this given point,
00:46either of the seats in these respective states,
00:49can Vijay's TVK make a mark in the bipoles?
00:54On the other hand, for TMC's two warring camps,
00:58who actually has ended up striking a chord amongst the people,
01:03months after there has been a major regime change in both of these states as we speak.
01:11In fact, in Tamil Nadu, it is a first-time political party that's come to be formed
01:18and faced the electoral race, the electoral battle for the first time,
01:24led by a politician who is very new but very loved by the people,
01:32that is the TVK and led by the chief minister now, that is C. Joseph Vijay.
01:37On the other hand, if we look at West Bengal, two highly, highly dramatic seats as we speak.
01:46And why we say dramatic?
01:47Because there's been a lot of action on the ground.
01:50There have been arrests, there have been allegations,
01:53there have been candidates nominating, being nominated,
01:58and then withdrawing their nominations for security purposes.
02:02And to top all of it, the TMC, the Trinamul Congress that West Bengal has known for three terms,
02:11and in fact, for that matter, for decades to come,
02:14that was for a party that was formed in the 1980s at this given point,
02:201990s at this given point,
02:22that has come out to face the electoral battle for the first time,
02:27not as a united camp, but divided into two distinctive halves,
02:34with two distinctive symbols, in fact, that come up in this particular election,
02:39and two different names.
02:41So which side will the people of Nandigram and Rejinagar be siding with?
02:47Now let's take you through one by one.
02:51Madhurantakam, voter turnout at this given point,
02:53in the buy poll, as we speak, 86.26%.
02:58This is, we're speaking of Tamil Nadu first.
03:00It's a 7% drop that we see already.
03:04The assembly poll had, however, seen as much as 93.22%.
03:10Why the drop?
03:12What does this drop mean for the TBK?
03:14Does it mean the DMK might have recovered a little bit,
03:18or perhaps the AIA, DMK, other parties that are contesting from this very seat?
03:22That's a question that's, in fact, to be answered at this given point.
03:27Dharapuram voter turnout, meanwhile, on the other side.
03:29For the buy polls, it remains at 80.30%.
03:34That is a steeper drop from the other constituency that we're speaking of.
03:41That is a 9.5% drop that we're speaking of.
03:44The assembly poll had, in fact, seen as much as 89.89%.
03:50So this is just Tamil Nadu that we are, in fact, currently bringing you the buy poll numbers of.
03:58The voter turnout.
03:59What does the voter turnout reducing on either seats in Tamil Nadu mean at this given point?
04:05Let's quickly take you through what these seats have, in fact, witnessed.
04:10That they're speaking specifically of Tamil Nadu.
04:12Then we'll proceed to West Bengal.
04:14All eyes on Tamil Nadu's twin buy poll results.
04:17The results of the by-elections in Maduran, Takam and Dharapuram will be declared today.
04:23Counting of votes will begin at 8 a.m. sharp at designated counting centres.
04:27Postal ballots, of course, will be counted first, followed by votes recorded through the EVMs.
04:33Now, for the TVK, the contest is the party's first major electoral test after coming to power.
04:38It's almost like a report card of sorts, one may call it so, at the end of several months after
04:46they've come to power in Tamil Nadu.
04:48And this puts their organisational strength and the voter appeal under the spotlight.
04:53But for the TMK on the other side, the battle presents an opportunity for MK Stalin to recover, to stage
04:59a comeback and reclaim lost ground.
05:02Meanwhile, the AIA TMK also faces a crucial test of its electoral strength under Aedipadi Palinist Swami.
05:09The turnout figures also point to a notable decline compared with the previous Assembly election.
05:15Maduran Takam recorded 86.26% voter turnout in by-polls, nearly 7% lower than the 93.22%
05:22that was recorded in the Assembly election that took place earlier in the year during the month of April.
05:28Dharapuram has recorded 80.30% compared with the 89.89% in the Assembly election, which is a decline
05:37of nearly 9.5%.
05:39Now, remember, defections triggered by-polls in both seats.
05:43Both Maragattam Kumarawal and P. Satyabama, who'd won the two seats on the AIA TMK tickets in the 2026 Assembly
05:50polls itself,
05:52have come out to resign from the party and now join the TVK.
05:56Now, what do the contests hold for them?
05:59Will people restore, reinstore their faith in both of the candidates or will we see them going for a different
06:08candidate?
06:09Is something that we will wait and watch at this given point.
06:13But yes, it will be a very crucial contest that will conclude today, a contest that's already taken place.
06:19The voters have already cast their votes.
06:23They have already put forward their choices.
06:25The counting remains, 8 a.m., roughly another hour from when the entire counting process will begin.
06:33But yes, the campaigns in either of the seats, especially Dharapuram, if we are to speak of, have been extensively
06:42dramatic.
06:43It's seen a lot of action.
06:44It's seen a lot of controversies.
06:46In fact, Dharapuram in itself had come out to, in fact, reveal a bit of an uglier side to politics,
06:55personal jibes, attacks against women leaders that, indeed, was not in good taste, but it only increased the political temperatures
07:05on the ground.
07:06There were several complaints against the DMK, in fact, with regards to how they were conducting their campaigns.
07:15But at the end of it, after the end of a very high-profile and highly charged-up campaign across
07:25both these seats, we saw the by-polls take place on October 6th.
07:30And today is October 9th.
07:31We're awaiting the results.
07:32One needs to, in fact, see how these last few months have been viewed by the people.
07:38It is a litmus test, both for the TVK to understand how the people are responding to their performance so
07:46far.
07:46Of course, it is way too early to determine that.
07:50It's not even the end of one year in that term.
07:53It is their first time that they faced the electoral battles in the month of April, earlier in the year.
08:01And this will give them a reality check of how people are responding on the grounds.
08:08And given that there's been a decline in the voter turnout across both seats, oftentimes, that's oftentimes looked at as
08:18an implication that perhaps there might be a bit of a satisfaction with what's already there, the trend that's already
08:24there in the certain seats.
08:26But that's not always also the case.
08:27So there are several factors that come out to imply, or rather come out to explain, what exactly does a
08:37lower voter turnout imply.
08:39But the end, again, we can only speculate so far.
08:42We can only anticipate what the results may be so far.
08:46Time will tell.
08:47A little few more hours from now, a little more time from now, we'll get to understand whether the TVK
08:53yet again has come back with a bang,
08:55with new candidates having joined their fray instead of the other way around.
09:01The AIA, DMK, whether they are on a back foot and whether the DMK, in fact, makes a comeback.
09:06So big questions mounting, of course.
09:08Who makes it at the last?
09:10That is a question that will be answered later in the...
