THENI: After the demise of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK lost its strong hold in Theni district paving a way for the DMK. For the last 10 years, the district had been favouring the AIADMK. However, during the by-election 2019, DMK managed to win two seats. But this time the DMK has secured three seats of the four constituencies in the district.
The DMK, this year, has missed Bodinayakanur Assembly Segment. However, DMK candidate Thanga Tamilselvan secured 89,029 votes which is more than DMK’s previous performance of 83, 923 votes. Though Tamilselvan gave a tough fight to the sitting MLA and Deputy Chief Minister O Pannerselvam, but the former deputy chief minister won secured the seat for the third time by a margin of 11,021 votes.
Andipatti Assembly Constituency is considered as one of the significant constituencies in the State as former chief ministers MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa had contested from the constituency earning many a victory for the AIADMK. It has been the fortress of AIADMK from 2001 to 2016. Later, during Andipatti Assembly by-election in 2019, Maharajan (DMK) bagged a win by a margin of 12,323 votes against his own brother A Logirajan (AIADMK).
Andipatti again saw a contest between the two brothers. In the initial rounds, Logirajan was leading by a margin of around 150 votes. After the completion of 15 rounds, Maharajan’s vote share started rising. Later, Maharajan was declared winner by a margin of 8,538 votes. However, his margin was low compared to by-election 2019. In Periyakulam (SC) constituency, DMK’s sitting MLA KS Saravanakumar retained his seat by a margin of 21,321 votes against AIADMK’s M Murugan.