Jayalalithaa wins Andipatti by a landslide

India's most controversial woman politician made a triumphant comeback yesterday by winning elections to the legislature of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and paving the way to return to her old job as chief minister.

"This win is the best birthday present I have ever received in my life," a beaming Jayaram Jayalalithaa, clad in a bottle-green sari, told reporters on the lawns of her palatial residence.

Yesterday was her 54th birthday. Contrary to her own instructions to downplay birthday celebrations, she cut a 54-kilo cake to celebrate her birthday and the landslide by-election victory.

Jayalalithaa won by a margin of more than 40,000 votes over her nearest opponent, from the drought-hit farming constituency of Andipatti, 500 km southwest of Chennai, the state capital.

"Madam Jayaram Jayalalithaa of the AIADMK has been declared elected," an election official said earlier, referring to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the party the former movie star leads.

Jayalalithaa was forced from office last September after the Supreme Court annulled her appointment over graft convictions. But the Madras High Court later overturned the original graft verdicts, paving the way for Jayalalithaa to run in Andipatti, known as a safe AIADMK seat.

Outside her imposing bungalow, thousands of party supporters had gathered for a glimpse of Jayalalithaa – whom they refer to as "amma" or mother – and burst firecrackers and danced joyously in the streets on hearing the news of her victory.

Many queued up and inched forward to present their offerings to her and to touch her feet – a gesture of love and respect.

Her 'temporary' Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam was one of them. For part of the time she stood in her portico to receive the offerings and then took a seat. Finally she called it a day and addressed the waiting media.

She told the press that the AIADMK had won 78,422 votes out of the total votes polled in Andipatti and had been declared elected.

Jayalalithaa said she had got 41,200 more votes than her DMK rival, Vaigai Sekar. Her victory, she said, was a historic one, unique in political history not only in India but anywhere else. It represented the courage and endurance of her party and its leadership which had been "written off" for the past five years.

"My case is a lesson for anyone who is on the brink of hopelessness, that courage and confidence will win in the end". She and the party had fought all odds against sustained efforts to destroy them.

Jayalalithaa thanked the people of Andipatti for their support to her and said that she would live up to every one of the election promises she had made to them. She would make Andipatti the foremost constituency in Tamil Nadu and the State itself, the leading State in India. She told the cheering well wishers that she would soon be sworn in as the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

After the morning greeting ceremony which went on till noon, the Assembly party of the party met under the Chairmanship of O. Panneerselvam. The only two items on the agenda were his resignation from his official post and election of Jayalalithaa as the new leader of the Assembly party.

At 4pm Panneerselvam was at the residence of the State Governor to submit his resignation. A press note issued by Raj Bhavan said that the Governor had accepted the resignation but had asked Panneerselvam to continue in office till alternate arrangements were made.

Earlier in the day Jayalalithaa had praised the manner in which Panneerselvam had held fort.

It is learnt that the swearing in ceremony would be a public one probably after February 28. March 2 is considered to be an auspicious day.

Now comes the unavoidable task of governance. The first problem she has to handle is the financial crisis facing the government. There is talk that she might trim the cabinet.

She is also likely to deliver a tough message to her former allies. The Tamil Nadu Congress President Elangovan is expected to hear from her.

She will also have to tell the other ally, the Tamil Maanila Congress that they will have to choose between her and other parties – in other words they cannot keep on talking of merger with the Congress.

Having shown the world that she can win elections on her own, she is also likely to indicate to the Congress that they will have to decide whether they are with her or not.

As for the BJP, commonsense dictates she will have to establish some working understanding with them since the Centre's cooperation is vital for overcoming the State's financial crisis. The BJP must also be looking for allies as they lose power in three of four crucial states that faced elections this time around.