AIADMK has reasons to smile

For the first time, its MP from Madurai enters Parliament

In winning the Madurai Lok Sabha seat, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) has earned three feathers in its cap.

One, for the first time, the AIADMK is entering Parliament from the prestigious Madurai constituency by sending its own party man.

Two, it has grabbed the seat from its arch-rival Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). In 2009, the DMK’s M.K. Alagiri was elected as the MP.

Three, though it was a five-cornered contest, the fight looked a head-on between the two Dravidian arch-rivals from the beginning.

In a straight contest between them, AIADMK candidate R. Gopalakrishnan polled a whopping 4,53,785 while his nearest rival V. Velusamy of the DMK secured 2,54,361 votes. DMDK’s D. Sivamuthukumar polled 1,46,751 votes, Bharat Nachiappan of the Congress got 32,154 votes and B. Vikraman of the CPI(M) polled 30,126 votes.

Aam Aadmi Party’s M. Kamacis managed to poll 5,378 votes. There were 31 candidates in the fray.

Against tradition

In the past, the Madurai seat had been traditionally contested by national parties (Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist) had aligned either with the DMK or the AIADMK). As a result, the Congress and the CPI(M) had returned to power like a see-saw.

This time, tempers ran high in Madurai constituency as the DMK and the AIADMK were in for a maiden political battle for the Parliament seat. There were allegations and counter allegations from both the camps, leaving the rest look like a muted audience.

At the counting centre

Madurai Medical College, the venue for the counting centre, was literally taken over by the police and commoners had no access to the sterile zone.

Postal ballots were taken first for counting when the exercise started at 8 a.m. in the presence of Returning Officer L. Subramanian and Election Observer (General) Rani Kumuthini and the candidates. The AIADMK polled 419 votes, DMK got 297 and the DMDK secured 119 votes. Out of the 2,445 postal ballots, 908 were valid and 1,529 rejected, officials said.

Steady lead

In the 21 rounds counted from the six Assembly segments of Melur, Madurai West, Madurai East, Madurai North, Madurai South and Madurai Central, Mr. Gopalakrishnan steadily maintained a lead and reached the top to settle at a big margin of 1,99,424 votes than his nearest rival Mr. Velusamy.

Flanked by Minister Sellur K. Raju and Mayor V.V. Rajan Chellappa, the MP elect, Mr. Gopalakrishnan, received the election certificate from the Returning Officer.

Bursting crackers and distributing sweets, the AIADMK men went on the city’s streets and garlanded leaders’ statues.