Congress retained the Kamaraj Nagar Assembly constituency in the bypoll held on October 21 with the party's candidate A John Kumar winning over his nearest rival Bouvanesvarane of All India NR Congress by a margin of 7170 votes.
John Kumar (54) polled 14,782 to Bouvanesvarane's (53) 7612.
John Kumar contested the seat in Congress-DMK alliance, while Bouvanesvarane contested in AINRC-AIADMK-BJP alliance.
Naam Thamilar Katchi candidate M Praveena was placed in third place polling in 620 votes, while C Vetriselvam of Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam, the new party floated by veteran leader P Kannan was in fourth place with 343 votes.
A significant number of 426 voters had opted for NOTA.
The seat fell vacant after V Vaithilingam vacated the seat after winning the Lok Sabha election. He had won the seat in 2011 and 2016 Assembly elections.
This is John Kumar 's first victory in Kamaraj Nagar, though he was earlier elected from Nellithope constituency.
The victory of John Kumar has increased the Congress strength to 15 in the 33 member Legislative Assembly. The ruling party has a strength of 19, with the support of three DMK members and one independent. The opposition has a strength of 14 with AINRC -7, AIADMK - 4 and BJP -3 (nominated MLAs).