Erode Venkata Krishnasamy Sampath Elangovan (21 December 1948 – 14 December 2024) was an Indian politician who was a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, representing the

Erode East Assembly constituency Erode East or 'Erode (East)' is a state assembly constituency in Erode district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. Its State Assembly Constituency number is 98. It consists of a portion of Erode taluk which includes Erode City. It is included ...

. He previously represented the

Gobichettipalayam Gobichettipalayam () is a town and municipality in Erode district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Gobichettipalayam taluk. It is situated close to the centre of the South Indian Peninsula at above s ...

Lok Sabha constituency of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

and was the Textiles Minister for the Union Government between 2004 and 2009, in Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh Government. He was a member of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

party.

Background

Elangovan was born in Erode District on 21 December 1948. He was the son of

E. V. K. Sampath Erode Venkatappa Krishnasamy Sampath ( – 23 February 1977), usually referred to as ''E. V. K. Sampath'' was a prominent politician from Tamil Nadu, India. He was an advocate of the Dravidian Movement of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and was conside ...

and the grandson of

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 187924 December 1973), commonly known as Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician. He was the organizer of the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam and is considered the architect o ...

's brother Krishnasamy. Elangovan died of lung disease on 14 December 2024, at the age of 75.

Political career

In the 2009 Lok Sabha election, he lost to A. Ganeshamurthi of the

MDMK The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; MDMK) is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The headquarters of the party is called Thayaga ...

by 49,336 votes in Erode constituency. He was appointed President of

Tamil Nadu Congress Committee Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) is the wing of Indian National Congress serving in Tamil Nadu. It is responsible for organizing and coordinating the party's activities and campaigns within the state, as well as selecting candidates for loca ...

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from States and union territories of India, state-level Pradesh Congress Commit ...

Chief

Sonia Gandhi Sonia Gandhi (, ; ; born 9 December 1946) is an Indian politician. She is the longest-serving president of the Indian National Congress, a big-tent liberal political party, which has governed India for most of its post-independence history. ...

on 31 October 2014, followed by the resignation of

B. S. Gnanadesikan B. S. Gnanadesikan (20 January 1949 – 15 January 2021) was a Sr. Vice President of Tamil Maanila Congress(M) and a two time Member of the Parliament of India representing Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliamen ...

. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election he lost to O. P. Ravindranath Kumar, the son of

O. Panneerselvam Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS (born 14 January 1951) is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu briefly in December 2016 and previously from 2001 to 2002 and again from 2014 to 2015. As finance minist ...

, in

Theni Theni is a valley town situated in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu at the foothills of the Western Ghats. It is the headquarters of the Theni district, 70km from Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in th ...

. Elangovan was the only candidate of the UPA to lose in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Tamil Nadu. He was also elected as a

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

in Tamilnadu from

Sathyamangalam Assembly constituency Sathyamangalam was a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu. Elections and winners in the constituency are listed below. The constituency was in existence from 1957 to the 2008 delimitation, after which it was merged with Bhavanisagar Assembl ...

in 1984 and Erode East constituency in a by-election in 2023, due to the death of his son

Thirumagan Evera Thirumagan Evera (29 February 1976 - 4 January 2023) was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress. He served as a Member of Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, representing Erode East from May 2021 up until his death in January 20 ...

Elections contested and positions held

Lok Sabha elections

Tamil Nadu Legislative elections

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elangovan, E. V. K. S. 1948 births 2024 deaths Indian Tamil people Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu India MPs 2004–2009 Union ministers of state of India Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu Union ministers from Tamil Nadu United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election People from Erode district People from Tiruppur district Tamil Nadu MLAs 1985–1989 Respiratory disease deaths in India Presidents of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee