NAGERCOIL: A Win here and the seat of power at Fort St. George was in the kitty. This was a popular belief among the voters in Kanniyakumari, as in the past four decades the government was formed only by a party winning from here. However, this election, the land’s end lost its kingmaker status.
All is not mumbo jumbo if statistics are to be believed. Records available with the Election Commission from 1967 suggest that Kanniyakumari was indeed a lucky mascot until 2016. In the recently held elections, DMK candidate Austin won from Kanniyakumari, but DMK will not be form the government, marking the end of the lucky streak.
A total of 15 candidates were in the fray, but from the first round of counting it became clear that the battle was between N Thalavai Sundaram of AIADMK and Austin.
Austin was ahead in the race from the beginning and at the end of round 10, he had 32,377 votes against Sundaram’s 29,721. By the end of round 20, Austin led by 3,017 votes and at the end of round 30, Austin had 87,867 votes against Sundaram’s 82,701. Finally after the postal votes were added up, Austin bested Thalavai Sundaram by 5,912 votes.
From 1991, the winner has always found a berth in the ministry, which won’t happen this time around.
The Congress, which has been decimated in the elections in five states, managed to hold on to Colachel, Vilavancode and Killiyoor. The other three seats on offer were won by DMK. BJP finished second in four places, except at Kanniyakumari and Padmanabhapuram. Congress has been doing well in the district since the time of martyrs Marshal Nesamony and Thanulinga Nadar.
