KARUR: Silencing her critics, both within the party and members of the alliance, Congress candidate S Jothimani emerged victorious in the 2024 Lok Sabha election too as she trumped 53 others to be reelected from Karur constituency by securing about five lakh votes.
The incumbent MP of Karur was given the ticket to contest despite opposition from a section of TNCC members and those in the DMK.
While counting of votes polled began by 8 am, the process took time as the parliamentary constituency saw the highest number of candidates in the state. With a total of 54 candidates in the fray, election officials had to count the votes polled for all of them as well as those that went for None of the Above (NOTA) and those that were declared rejected votes.
In view of this, the votes polled were counted in a total of 24 rounds.
At the end of 24 rounds of counting, Jothimani secured a comfortable victory against her AIADMK and BJP counterparts. She secured a win in Karur by polling about five lakh votes, which is by a margin of over 1.5 lakh votes against AIADMK’s KRL Thangavel, who came second.
It may also be noted that Jothimani secured all the 21,000-odd votes in Pallapatti, a Muslim majority village under Aravakurichi Assembly segment, which is regarded a stronghold of the DMK. At booth number 222 in Pallapatti, BJP secured zero votes.
Sources also attributed the 48-year-old’s victory to supporters of former minister and DMK’s V Senthil Balaji “burning the midnight oil” to secure the alliance leader’s win.