Puducherry: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s lawmaker from Vikravandi K Radhamani passed away on Friday at the age of 70 in Puducherry.

Radhamani had been ill for a while and was undergoing treatment at the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry.

Radhamani, a close aide of DMK leader and former minister K Ponmudy, won the 2016 Assembly elections from Vikravandi constituency in Vizhupuram district.

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K Radhamani is the sixth MLA to die in office since the 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections were held. DMK chief and Leader of Opposition MK Stalin is expected to visit the union territory to pay his respects.

Just after the state elections in May 2016, Thiruparankundram AIADMK MLA SM Seenivel passed away hours before the first Assembly session.

By-polls were held following Seenivel’s death in which AIADMK’s AK Bose emerged victorious. But Bose passed away while in office, in August last year.

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Soon after, former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa passed away in hospital.

Elections were announced to her RK Nagar Assembly constituency in April 2017. But the elections were rescinded following rampant cash-for-votes allegations in the area. The elections were rescheduled for December 2017 wherein, independent candidate TTV Dhinakaran emerged victorious.

August 7, 2018 saw the demise of DMK chief M Karunanidhi who passed away due to a prolonged illness at Chennai’s Kauvery hospital. R Kanagaraj, AIADMK MLA from Sulur Assembly constituency passed away due to a cardiac arrest.

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Tamil Nadu will now face two more by-polls – to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency as well as the Nanguneri Assembly constituency, which was recently vacated by MP-elect H Vasanthakumar.

Elections to the Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, which were countermanded in May this year, are also due.