The counting centre at Anna University witnessed two close contests between the two Dravidian majors.
Counting for the T. Nagar Assembly constituency was especially nail-biting, with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) almost level-pegging for the most part.
Ahead of his main rival — DMK’s N.S. Kanimozhi — only by a slender margin on most rounds, AIADMK candidate Sathyanarayanan heaved a sigh of relief only on the 14{+t}{+h}round (out of the 17).
And only at the end of round 16 did he relax visibly, with an unassailable lead of close to 2,000 votes and there was only one more round to go. Sathyanarayanan was declared the winner by a margin of 3,155 votes. BJP’s H. Raja garnered 19,888 votes.
In the Virugambakkam constituency, where BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan came third by polling 19,167 votes, AIADMK candidate V.N. Virugairavi (65,979) once again won by a slender margin of 2,333 over DMK’s K. Thanasekaran (63,646). Another contest that generated considerable interest took place at the Saidapet constituency, where DMK strongman M. Subramanian was pitted against AIADMK heavyweight C. Ponnaiyan. Mr. Subramaniam, however, won by 16,255 votes.
The other two constituencies — Velachery and Mylapore — went to the DMK and the AIADMK respectively. Actor Vagai Chandrasekar claimed Velachery by polling 70,139 votes as opposed to 61,267 polled by AIADMK’s C. Munusamy.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Dravida Murpokku Munnetra Kazhagam (DMDK) netted a combined tally of 24,126 votes. Former top cop R. Natraj, who contested on AIADMK ticket, scored a significant victory over Congress’ Karate Thiagarajan. He won by 14,728 votes.
From elation to exhaustion
Except for a minor incident that was quickly and effectively dealt with, counting of votes at Queen Mary’s College went on smoothly on Thursday.
R.K. Nagar was one of the five constituencies for which votes were being counted at this centre.
Even as postal ballots were being counted, cadres of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) waiting outside the counting launched into a celebration based on information that their candidates were leading in several parts of the State.
A posse of police officials posted at the centre stepped in promptly and requested the cadres to disburse to prevent a traffic jam. Within a few minutes, reports coming in from various parts of the State made it clear that the AIADMK was in the lead in several constituencies, and following this news, the DMK cadre began to disburse.
When it was mid-day, DMK cadre wore a disappointed look, their moods being shaped by results coming from across the state. In contrast, AIADMK cadres were in a celebratory mood, having heard that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had taken a huge lead.
DMK however won three of the five constituencies — P. Sivakumar alias Thayagam Kavi in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, P.K. Sekar Babu in Harbour and J. Anbazhagan in Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni — for which votes were being counted at Queen Mary’s College. The AIADMK won in R.K. Nagar and Royapuram.
