Madurantakam (SC) Assembly Segment Gears Up for October 6 Bye-Election

CHENNAI: With the October 6 bye-elections just days away, the political heat has finally hit the unusually calm Madurantakam (SC) Assembly segment after the final list of candidates was announced on Saturday evening. Until then, there had been little sign of a bypoll mood taking hold in Madurantakam. But beneath the calm is a political equation that is far more complicated than the five-cornered contest on paper, though 27 candidates are in the fray. Madurantakam, in Chengalpattu district, is a reserved constituency along the Chennai-Tiruchy (GST Road) corridor and is largely rural and semi-urban. The economy is agrarian, with paddy as the mainstay. It is known for the Madurantakam lake, one of the largest irrigation tanks in the district, on which farmers in the constituency depend. A large share of the electorate comprises agricultural labourers, small and marginal farmers, and daily-wage workers. Many also commute to factories in the Chengalpattu-Singaperumalkoil-Oragadam industrial belt and the Sriperumbudur cluster for automobile, electronics and allied jobs.