TENKASI: The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), which garnered a mere 1.5 per cent of votes collectively in all the six assembly segments under Tenkasi constituency (PC) in 2016 election, increased its vote bank to 5.58 per cent in three years.
This performance of the party, which has got a considerable amount of votes in this Parliament election in all the constituencies of the down south districts – Tenkasi (5.58), Tirunelveli (4.8), Thoothukudi (4.97) and Kanyakumari (1.97) – has given a booster shot to its cadre. The nine-year-old NTK, which allocated 50 per cent of the seats to the women, secured more numbers of votes than Kamal Haasan’s MNM in these four constituencies.
As far as Tenkasi is concerned, in 2016 assembly poll, the NTK had got a total vote of 17,310 in Tenkasi, Kadayanallur, Vasudevanallur, Sankarankovil, Srivilliputhur and Rajapalayam segments under Tenkasi constituency. However, it has garnered 59,445 votes in 2019 Parliamentary election.
While the Naam Tamilar Katchi secured as many as 2,414 votes in Rajapalayam in 2014, its candidate S S Mathivanan secured 15,122 votes in the area this election.