The Hindu : National : Congress retains Dindigul and Theni Lok Sabha seats

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Congress retains Dindigul and Theni Lok Sabha seats

Staff Reporter

Aaron, Chitthan defeat their AIADMK rivals in the election

— Photo: G. Karthikeyan

authentication: (Top) Returning Officer R. Kirlosh Kumar giving away certificate to Congress candidate N.S.V. Chitthan in Dindigul on Saturday; (Below) J.M. Aaron Rashid receiving certificate from Returning Officer P. Muthuveeran in Theni.

DINDIGUL: Congress candidates J.M. Aaron Rashid and N.S.V. Chitthan have retained their seats in Theni and Dindigul constituencies by defeating their AIADMK rivals in the Lok Sabha election.

Once again, the AIADMK, in a fiery battle, lost its bastion Theni constituency to the Congress. Sitting MP J.M. Aaron Rashid has won the seat defeating AIADMK candidate Thanga Thamizhselvan by a wafer-thin margin of 6,302 votes.

Of the total 10,74,931 votes, 8,00,362 votes were polled. Mr. Aaron got 3,40,575 votes and Mr. Thanga Thamizhselvan got 3,34,273. DMDK candidate G. Santhanam polled 70,908 votes.

Except in Andipatti and Sholavandan segments, Mr. Aaron maintained the lead in the other four Assembly segments.

He overcame his rival comfortably in Cumbum, Periyakulam and Usilampatti segments. AIADMK’s supremacy in Andipatti and Sholavandan did not help him much.

Initially Mr. Aaron was lagging behind. Later, both the rivals attempted to overcome one other in subsequent rounds.

At one stage, difference between him and the AIADMK candidate was just 300.

In the 15th round, the margin was up by 4,795 votes and in the 18th round, he gained 2,410 votes more than his rival.

Of the total 167 votes polled through postal ballot, 120 votes were invalid. Mr. Aaron gained 139 and AIADMK got just 25 votes.

Collector and Returning Officer P. Muthuveeran gave away declaration certificate to Mr. Aaron.

Dindigul

Mr. Chitthan won the seat thrashing AIADMK candidate P. Balasubramani by a comfortable margin of 54,347 votes.

He garnered 3,61,545 votes and his Dravidian rival got 3,07,198 votes. Total votes in the constituency was 10,85,696 votes.

Mr. Chitthan had won this seat in 2004 parliament poll by a slender margin of 15,299 votes only.

Collector and Returning Officer R. Kirlosh Kumar gave away the declaration certificate to Mr. Chitthan.

DMDK candidate P. Muthuvel Raj, who garnered 1,00,788 votes, lost his deposit as he failed to receive one sixth of the total polled votes.

On the whole, the DMDK gained 10 per cent of the votes.

Postal votes

In postal votes also, the Congress candidate maintained his supremacy by capturing 501 out of 701 votes.

Only three postal votes were rejected.

Mr. Balasubramani could obtain 141 postal votes.

The Congress was leading since the first round and this trend continued till the end. Except in Dindigul Assembly segment, the Congress gained more votes in all segments than the AIADMK.

While Dindigul segment came to the rescue of AIADMK, Nilakottai and Athoor segments, washed off his winning chances.

Mr. Chitthan got 33,978 votes in Nilakottai and 14,771 votes in Athoor more than the AIADMK candidate.

The Congress gained an upper hand in Natham, Palani and Nilakottai segments.

In Oddanchatram alone, he could get 236 votes, lowest of all segments, more than the AIADMK.

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