VELLORE: The voters of Gudiyattam seem to have extended their full support to the AIADMK candidate B Senguttuvan who has won from Vellore Lok Sabha constituency, defeating sitting MP Abdul Rahman (IUML).
A look at the Assembly segment-wise details revealed that Senguttuvan got the maximum votes of 78,741 from Gudiyattam segment, closely followed by Anaikattu (66,398), K V Kuppam (65,138), Ambur (58,104), Vaniyambadi (57,272), and Vellore (56,931).
Senguttuvan was able to win over his rivals A C Shanmugam of BJP and Abdul Rahman of IUML in all six Assembly segments comfortably. While both Shanmugam and Rahman were able to gain around 44,000-plus votes each from Gudiyattam segment, they were not able to beat Senguttuvan in any of the six constituencies. While both Senguttuvan and Shanmugam represented the dominant Mudaliyar community, Senguttuvan appears to have got additional support of Sengunthar section among the Mudaliyars, to which he also belonged, from Gudiyattam segment in a big way.
The Anikattu segment, considered to be a Vanniyar stronghold, has fully supported both the BJP and AIADMK candidates as they were able to gain 65,387 and 66,398 votes respectively while sidelining the IUML (DMK) candidate.
In the past Assembly and LS polls, AIADMK candidates were unable to garner so much of support from Anaikattu.
Rahman was not able to match Senguttuvan and Shanmugam in any Assembly segment. This is apparent from his performance in K V Kuppam Assembly segment, for example which is considered a DMK stronghold. Rahman was able to gain only 23,750 votes against his rivals Senguttuvan who gained 65,138 votes and Shanmugam 59,491 votes.