THOOTHUKUDI/SEYYARU: The DMK candidate, Anitha Radhakrishnan won as expected but his margin of victory, 46,861, which is three times the number that he got in the 2006 Assembly elections, was unexpected.
Out of the 1,10,951 votes polled, Anitha got 75,223 votes followed by the AIADMK candidate Amman T Narayanan with 28,362. The DMDK candidate, Gomathi A Ganesan stood third with 4,186 votes but lost his deposit.
The DMK candidate maintained his lead from the beginning and extended it with every round.
For Anitha, who is contesting for the third consecutive time from Tiruchendur, this is a hat-trick victory.
While he won the 2001 and 2006 elections as a AIADMK candidate, in this election he contested as the DMK candidate. In 2001 elections, he won with a victory margin of 11,193 over the DMK candidate, Jennifer Chandran and in 2006, he won with a margin of 13,916 votes over his DMK opponent, ADK Jeyaseelan.
The victory has also earned him many firsts in the district’s election history. Anitha became the first candidate in the district to poll more than 75,000 votes and his 46,861 margin is the highest ever in the history of Assembly elections conducted in the district. Apart from this, he is the only candidate to score a hat-trick as he was elected thrice from the constituency.
“The achievements of the Central and State governments are the key to this victory and the winning streak of the DMK will continue,” Anitha told reporters.
Except the DMK and AIADMK candidates, all the other 23 candidates lost their deposits.
Meanwhile, DMK candidate J Kamalakannan, a political novice, won the Vandavasi (reserved) by-election with a margin of 38,017 votes, having polled 78,827 votes out of a total of 1,32,158 votes registered on the December 19 election.
AIADMK’s P Munusamy, who contested for the first time, polled 40,810 votes, while L Janarthanan of the DMDK lost his deposit amount by polling just 7,013 votes. He told Express, “Both the DMK and AIADMK had polled votes directly proportionate to the cash paid per vote, and I have polled 7000-odd votes out of the love of the people of this constituency.” Kamalakannan, who watched the counting in the Seyyaru Anna Arts College on TV along with Food Minister E V Velu, told Express, “I am speechless; I do not know what to say.” He added, “I dedicate this victory to my father.” AIADMK candidate Munusamy who was present at the counting centre accepted his defeat and said, “This is a great beginning towards fighting the money power of DMK.”