Dindigul, the fort of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), completely crumbled in the 2016 election as its candidate N. Pandi faced the second miserable defeat in his hometown by losing his deposit. He suffered defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha election too.
Mr. Pandi was thrashed in Dindigul, a constituency which was held by the CPI (M) since 2011 without a break.
Sitting MLA K. Balabaralthi hit a hat-trick in Dindigul, thanks to the CPI (M), which aligned with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in election after election.
The CPI (M) knew that it was a litmus test for the party to prove its mettle in the 2016 Assembly election as it was in the battlefield with parties that have very little vote bank.
In Dindigul, the CPI (M), with the support of the constituents of the PWF-DMDK-TMC combine, got just 8,657 votes and was pushed to the third place.
In Palani, the CPI (M) missed the chance it had got after a gap of 16 years.
Its candidate V. Rajamanickam faced a similar fate. He was thrashed and pushed to third place. He got just 9,687 votes, slightly more than the votes gained by Mr. Pandi.
Dindigul, so called ‘Red Fort’ built by great Communist stalwarts like A. Balasubramaniam, S.A. Thangaraj and A. Varadharajan, crumbled in this election.
The condition of the CPI was worse in Oddanchatram as its district secretary K. Santhanam got just 3,646 votes. Votes gained by the PWF fold in all the seven constituencies in the district have proved that they were not at all in the race.
While DMDK candidate G. Karthikeyan got 9,373 votes in Natham, foreign soil to him, Nilakottai DMDK candidate K. Ramasamy got 7,666 votes and Athoor candidate M. Packiya Selvaraj garnered 3,741 candidates. In Vedasandur, S.R.K. Balu got 12,445 votes.
Theni
Except Cumbum candidate and three-time MLA O.R. Ramachandran (TMC) who gained more than one lakh votes, all other PWF fold candidates got abysmally low votes.
While Andipatti DMDK candidate M.N. Krishnamurthy secured 10,736 votes, Bodi DMDK candidate A. Veerabadran garnered 6,883 votes. Even sitting MLA A. Lazar could get only 13,525 votes in Periyakulam.
