Modakurichi Assembly constituency is a part of the Erode Parliamentary Constituency and covers regions of Sivagiri, Modakurichi and some parts of Erode City. It is a big constituency in terms of area and has a high rural population. The constituency came under national limelight during the 1996 Assembly elections when a record 1033 candidates contested from the constituency. It is from then on that Election Commission increased the security deposit amount for contesting candidates to ₹10000.
The constituency has traditionally been a stronghold of the Dravidian parties with AIADMK winning 7 of the 12 elections held in the last 50 years. The DMK had won from this constituency in 1971, 1989, and 1996.
The 2021 Assembly Elections saw Dr. C. Saraswathi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning from the constituency. This is the first time that the BJP has won from here. Prior to this, only once has a national party, Congress, won from here in the year 2006.
Saraswathi was born on March 1, 1945 in Anandampalayam village that falls in the same constituency. She is a doctor by profession and had graduated out of Stanley Medical College, Chennai. She is a well-known paediatrician and has been practicing in Erode for more than five decades. She has been a member of the BJP for a long time and has served as the state executive committee member. She is also an educationist and had established the Indian Public School in 2004, the first Montessori and CBSE School in Erode.
Her candidature for the 2021 Assembly elections came as a surprise as other prominent names were being touted for the constituency. This is the first time that the 76 year old is contesting elections. Defying old age and the scorching sun, Dr. C. Saraswathi managed to emerge victorious with a slender margin of 281 votes.
It is to be noted that the Dr. Saraswathi has no prior electioneering experience and belongs to a party that is organizationally yet to grow in the region. But she managed to mobilize a team of young volunteers from scratch to work for her and help her fight the elections. Along with the help of the BJP leadership in the state, Dr. Saraswathi kicked off her campaign on a subtle note.
Speaking to The Commune, Prof. P. Kanagasabapathi, the Vice President of BJP Tamil Nadu and the election in-charge for the constituency said that the challenge was to take the ‘lotus’ symbol in the predominantly rural constituency where majority of the people do not have awareness about the symbol.
“We developed innovative ways of campaigning to take the ‘lotus’ symbol to the people. Through ‘therukoothu‘, we created an awareness about the ‘lotus’ symbol. Our main focus for the campaign was to convey the schemes that have benefitted Tamil Nadu people like the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, Mudra loan scheme, Ujjwala LPG cylinder scheme, etc.” said Prof. Kanagasabapathi.
“Since a large number of people in the constituency are engaged in agriculture and allied activities, we did a focused campaign for farmers. We highlighted the schemes brought out by the Modi government at the Centre especially the PM-KISAN scheme and how the recently enacted farmer empowerment laws would benefit farmer in a huge way.” said youth volunteer who had helped in Dr. Saraswathi’s campaign.
Being a woman candidate, the team also did a campaign focusing on women by highlighting her humble origins as well as women related schemes brought out by the Central and State Governments. A bike rally comprising of women was held for canvassing votes.
“We did not have any high decibel shrill campaign. We just focused on the good work done by the candidate along with highlighting the schemes of Modi government at the Centre and the AIADMK government at the State” he said.
Apart from the larger narrative, Dr. Saraswathi has a name for herself in the region because of her yeoman service through her profession as a doctor. “She has been holding health camps for the poor and underprivileged and giving them free treatment. Her work definitely has an influence among the people.” Prof. Kanagasabapathi added.
With a strong alliance partner AIADMK on its side, the BJP was able to activate cadres for door-to-door campaigning as well.
However, it was not an easy fight for Dr. Saraswathi as she faced a strong opposing candidate belonging to the DMK who was also a woman nearly of the same age. Subbulakshmi Jegadeesan of the DMK was previously elected as the MLA for the constituency in 1996. She had earlier been a Member of Parliament representing Tiruchengode and also served as a Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment from 2004-2009. Prior to that she was Minister in in the Tamil Nadu Government holding various portfolios.
But with a focused campaign, Dr. Saraswathi managed to pull off a victory with a razor thin margin. Though the margin is just over 200 votes, she has been earning appreciations for securing BJP’s victory from a predominantly rural area.
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