SALEM: Outgoing Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami won by a thumping margin of 93,802 votes – the highest of his political career – in Edappadi Assembly constituency as the AIADMK put up a good performance in Salem. The alliance led by the party had either won or was leading in 10 out of 11 seats in the district.
Palaniswami received 1,63,154 votes to defeat his closest rival DMK candidate T Sambathkumar, who secured 69,352 votes. Palaniswami took the lead as early as the first round and in the 28 rounds that followed, there was no turning back as the Kongu stalwart kept extending his lead. In the last Assembly elections, he had won by 42,022 votes.
Palaniswami’s winning margin is also the highest by a sitting Chief Minister in the State’s history. In 2011, DMK leader M Karunanidhi had won by 50,249 votes in Tiruvarur. The outgoing CM has contested from Edappadi in six of the seven State Assembly elections since 1989, except in 2001.
He won the seat four times - 1989, 1991, 2011 and 2016. On two occasions, in 1996 and 2006, he had lost to PMK candidates. In the last Assembly election in 2016, Palaniswami defeated PMK candidate N Annadurai and his win this year is his fifth from Edappadi.
Meanwhile, in Salem South constituency, considered an AIADMK fort, party candidate Balasubramanian won by 22,609 votes beating DMK’s Saravanan. This is the party’s fifth consecutive win in the seat since 2001. In Yercaud (ST) constituency, incumbent MLA K Chitra beat DMK candidate C Tamilselvan by 25,599 votes. In Attur (SC), AIADMK’s AP Jayasankaran beat DMK’s K Chinnadurai by 8,257 votes. Salem West saw PMK’s R Arul victorious, against DMK.