CHENNAI: Early trends in Tamil Nadu showed that the INDIA bloc, led by the DMK in the state was leading in 37 of the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies.
In keenly-watched constituency of Coimbatore, BJP state president K Annamalai was trailing behind the DMK candidate by more than 3,000 votes.
Sowmiya Anbumani of the PMK, which is part of the BJP-led NDA, was ahead in Dharmapuri with a comfortable lead of over 16,000 votes.
Late actor and DMDK founder Vijayakanth's son Vijaya Prabhakaran of DMDK, part of the AIADMK-led alliance, was leading in Virudhunagar by a little over 2,000 votes.
The AIADMK began with a thin lead in Kallakurichi and Namakkal earlier, but the trend then reversed with the DMK leading in these two constituencies by over 6,000 and 4,000 votes respectively.
BJP and its allies had been trailing in the second position in 10 constituencies. This included all the three constituencies in Chennai.
Apart from these, the party is in the second position in Vellore, Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, and Kanniyakumari. AMMK’s TTV Dhinakaran in Theni and independent candidate O Panneerselvam in Ramanathapuram, both contesting as part the BJP-led alliance, were also trailing.
The AIADMK led alliance was trailing in the second spot in 28 constituencies.
In Puducherry, A Vaithilingam of the Congress was leading by a comfortable margin of over 24,000 votes.