CHENNAI: AMMK, despite securing the third position in as many as 19 Assembly constituencies where bypoll was held, managed to secure deposit in only one seat--Ottapidaram.The AMMK led by R K Nagar legislator, TTV Dhinakaran contested the recently concluded bye-polls as independent candidates under the symbol of ‘Gift Box’.
A look at the results reveals that the party managed to secure the third position in 19 Assembly seats with Hosur, Perambur and Vilathikulam being the only exception.The party received the maximum of 31152 votes in Tirupparankundram Assembly seat, and the least in Hosur constituency with 1431 votes.However, the party candidates could not secure their deposits in 21 out of the 22 contested seats.
Ottapidaram constituency candidate, R Sundararaj, was the only candidate to secure his deposit with a vote share of 17.15 per cent.A candidate is deemed to have lost his deposit if he fails to secure more than 16.66% or one-sixth of the total votes polled.
Candidates who lost their deposit include 12 former legislators of AIADMK and in 15 Assembly seats, AMMK candidates registered less than 10 per cent of vote share, with the least being in Hosur where it secured 0.63 per cent of vote share.