Chennai: As RK Nagar goes to the poll on Thursday, political pundits expect the voters to turn against AIADMK sidelined TTV Dhinakaran, the nephew of jailed VK Sasikala.

A win for the AIADMK, which retained the `two leaves’ symbol, will also provide the necessary boost to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s Government. It has put up Madhusudhanan for the high-profile by-election caused by the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

But Opposition DMK, which has fielded Maruthu Ganesh, sees this as an acid test. After DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi has been confined to his house owing to poor health and old age, this is the first electoral test for his son MK Stalin who took over party reins in January as working president.

Stalin expects the support of its allies Congress and IUML, besides MDMK, VCK and Left parties.

Predictions of two pre-poll surveys were diametrically opposite, one saying the DMK would win and the other AIADML

Like earlier when the bypoll was cancelled, there have been allegations of massive distribution of money to voters. And authorities have seized cash running into lakhs from supporters of Dhinakaran and the AIADMK.

Despite the presence of the BJP, which is trying to assert that it was the only alternative to the AIADMK and the DMK, and the Naam Tamizhar, it is essentially a triangular contest. And pundits say the margin would be much less than the 40,000 that Jayalalithaa got in May last year.