Hosur: The Amma Makka Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) has fielded the party’s Karnataka unit Secretary, Pugazhendi for the Hosur Assembly constituency.

Pugazhendi spoke to MyNation and said that the chances of him winning the by-polls are high.

“After Balakrishnan was convicted in a criminal case, the seat has been vacant. I have worked as an election-in-charge in the city and I know every nook and corner of Hosur. My chances of winning are 100%,” expressed Pugazhendi.

He further went on to point out the issues faced by the people of the city. Pugazhendi stated that there were pending works that needed completion.

“There is no proper garbage management system, and there are plenty of pending works in the city. The biggest problem is that the tax that is collected is too high for people to manage. I will work towards all that,” stated Pugazhendi.

Jyoti Balakrishnan, wife of former minister P Balakrishna Reddy was nominated by the AIADMK to contest from the Hosur seat.

Pugazhendi said, “First Balakrishnan was convicted, now his wife is in the fray, it is just unfortunate that such things are happening.”

Number of seats vacant in the Tamil Nadu Assembly have increased to 22 after the recent death of AIADMK MLA R Kanagaraj. The MLA from Sulur in Coimbatore district passed away following a cardiac arrest.

Kanagaraj's demise brought down the strength of the ruling party to 113. This, excluding the Speaker, in the 234-member assembly which already has 21 vacancies.

The vacancies included the 18 created by the disqualification of rebel AIADMK MLAs in 2017 for revolting against the chief minister. They went on to pledge allegiance to the side-lined AIADMK leader and AMMK founder TTV Dhinakaran.

One of them has since then joined the DMK. Two other vacancies were caused by the death of sitting MLAs, former DMK chief M Karunanidhi and AIADMK's A K Bose last year.

Bye-polls to 18 legislative assembly constituencies due in Tamil Nadu will take place on April 18, 2019. The polls would take place simultaneously along with Lok Sabha polls. The results would be announced on May 23.